It's been a while since I have updated this thing, I am sure what little following I had has wittled away to nothing lol. But between school, traveling, and women poker has not been on my plate much lately. I was playing in the Bluff Poker Tour and doing fairly well, but my school work load got so hectic that I had to drop off of the tour (I promised my mom I would get my graduate degree, so I plan to keep it even if it delays my poker plans for a little while), but I have been playing over the at the B-House poker room as usual, so I have at least been playing a little. My online activity went almost to nil, but with all of that the semester is OVER, and it's time for me to go back to work, on my poker game.
Lately at the B-House I have had a few moments of success, but for the most part my game has dropped off a bit, I am better in some areas, but dropped off in others, maybe when I start playing more things will come back to me. But I know what my immediate problem is right now, I am not staying focused while I am playing, and this leads to board misreads, the lsat 3 or 4 times I have played I totally read the board wrong which caused me to make a bad move. So, I have to slow my game down a bit and make sure I go back to my deliberate style of play, this will help to eliminate the mistakes.
Pre-New Years Poker Palooza!!!
A poker tourney was setup by the B-House, and I was excited as it was a $20 buy-in which meant a lot of points, I am currently about 40 points behind FDR for the NB Championship, it's going to be decided on New Years anyway, but just a chance to put the pressure on him would be good. He doesn't have to place to win, so the pressure is on me for the most part, so it's going to be fun. We played a Re-buy tournament which changed the dynamic of the tourney. Early on I built up a decent chip stack, I opened about 80% of my hands with a raise, and just about everytime I raised MB would call, at this point I figured out what a clever strategy she was employing, she had a lot of chips, so by calling my raise almost everytime it was harder to put her on a hand, plus she would advertise when she bluffed which we know is only a way to entice you into second guessing yourself. Ultimately she got me on one hand with a flush and took about 1200 of my chips LOL, the funny thing is I don't think I played a lot of hands, and most of the hands I played didn't go to showdown.
I was knocked out right after the break, I was dealt 8S 7S, suited connectors and I had decent position at the time, so I raised to $300 which was only 3 times the big blind at the time. Everyone folded except THEBAT, he calls and the flop comes 9 Q 6 ok I have an open ended straght draw not bad, flsuh as barely alive at this time. So I check, THEBAT bets the minimum, I call, and the next card is a 9, but for some reason (read first paragraph) I thought I had made a straight, so I bet $625 and THEBAT calls, now I am wondering does he have a Queen, but I don't care because I have straight (so I thought), and the river comes 2d, I push all in and THEBAT calls, I flip over my cards and I say "straight" and he says "you got me", then AG goes Marksman you don't have a straight and I looked harder and I didn't have one, I only had 9 high, so THEBAT turns over his cards and he has 10 high LOL, and I get knocked out.
Now I am not a sore loser or anything, but I just had to question why someone would call all those bets with 10 high, it made no sense to me, and I was miffed then and I am miffed now. The call made no sense whatsoever, but that's poker people play the way they want to. It made me realize another thing that I haven't been doing since I started back playing, I have neglected to profile players, and if I would have just remembered a few key things, and looked at the board I could have avoided the mistake. I actually want people to make those type of calls, because they will lose more than they win with those hands, that's the good thing about Poker Baptism by fire LOL.
THEBAT ended up winning, and he got about 100 or so points for it, so it really helped him a lot, but I don't think it's enough for him to make it a 3 horse race, but it might be depending on what the point breakdown for the end of the year tourney is. I just know that if I win the tourney I win the entire thing, so that has to be my focus.
That's all for now folks, going to reload my PStars account.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Thursday, September 01, 2005
WSOP Doldrums & other news
Well after the tradgedy in Biloxi and New Orleans, the Grand Casino in Biloxi was completely destroyed ruining the lives of everyone that lives in the region, not to mention canceling my very first WSOP experience.
That entire situation has de-railed a lot of the momentum I was building up, plus personal matters, school etc..., I was playing my best poker before all of that came down. After a long hiatus I am resuming my work towards becoming a poker pro.
I think my plan is a good one it takes longer than guys who play and get lucky in a tourney then say they are a pro, I want to see millions of hands and as many situations as I can because my goal is consistentcy. So, my online play will probably decrease somewhat since my local hardrock has instituted high buy in sit 'n' go tourneys, they have buy-ins up to $1000, and they run 24 x 7 before it was sort of lame they only did it 2 or 3 days a week for 6 hours.
I missed the past few events over at what I now call "The Poker Lounge", they had an event to benefit a charity and they were attempting to raise money to donate and they are planning on participating in the Light the Night walk. They reached their financial goal, and the walk is happening this Friday, so it's been a success I congratulate them on a job well done. I wasn't able to play in the tourney because of a Family Matter, but I donated to help contribute to the cause.
In my abscence "AT&T", updated me on what has quickly become known as a "blogworthy" hand (formally known as hand of note). Here is AT&T's commentary in her own words:
"here's a blog worthy hand you missed out on! :)
it was the final table, gerrie had pocket 8's and
goes all in pre-flop... banea calls with pocket q's
and her friend marc calls with pocket a's.... flop
comes 8, 4, 2, banea goes all in and marc calls...
turn is another 8!!! that gives gerrie quad 8's....
then on the river was a QUEEN! gerrie won the
main pot, banea won the side pot between her and
marc and marc was out with the BEST HAND pre-
flop!
see, poket aces arent that good!! :)
see you at the next game!!!"
Very good commentary from AT&T, I couldn't have done it better myself.
That entire situation has de-railed a lot of the momentum I was building up, plus personal matters, school etc..., I was playing my best poker before all of that came down. After a long hiatus I am resuming my work towards becoming a poker pro.
I think my plan is a good one it takes longer than guys who play and get lucky in a tourney then say they are a pro, I want to see millions of hands and as many situations as I can because my goal is consistentcy. So, my online play will probably decrease somewhat since my local hardrock has instituted high buy in sit 'n' go tourneys, they have buy-ins up to $1000, and they run 24 x 7 before it was sort of lame they only did it 2 or 3 days a week for 6 hours.
I missed the past few events over at what I now call "The Poker Lounge", they had an event to benefit a charity and they were attempting to raise money to donate and they are planning on participating in the Light the Night walk. They reached their financial goal, and the walk is happening this Friday, so it's been a success I congratulate them on a job well done. I wasn't able to play in the tourney because of a Family Matter, but I donated to help contribute to the cause.
In my abscence "AT&T", updated me on what has quickly become known as a "blogworthy" hand (formally known as hand of note). Here is AT&T's commentary in her own words:
"here's a blog worthy hand you missed out on! :)
it was the final table, gerrie had pocket 8's and
goes all in pre-flop... banea calls with pocket q's
and her friend marc calls with pocket a's.... flop
comes 8, 4, 2, banea goes all in and marc calls...
turn is another 8!!! that gives gerrie quad 8's....
then on the river was a QUEEN! gerrie won the
main pot, banea won the side pot between her and
marc and marc was out with the BEST HAND pre-
flop!
see, poket aces arent that good!! :)
see you at the next game!!!"
Very good commentary from AT&T, I couldn't have done it better myself.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Bluff Poker Tour Event #11 & Local Poker Activity
On Wednesday I played in the 11th event on the Bluff Poker Tour, it was at http://www.checknraisepoker.com , it's one of those Java based sites that don't require you to download any software. I was hoping for a low turnout just like everyone else, but when I came home on Wednesday and logged in there were 101 people signed up for the tourney. I have been checking this site several times over the past few weeks to see what their traffic was like, and the most players I had ever seen online at the same time was 91, so the tourney almost doubled their traffic. Frankly it sucked, I don't think the site can handle 101 people in a tournament at the same time, I was getting lockups and freezes during the tournament. For example I raised pre-flop on a hand and I got a caller, the flop gave me an open ended straight draw, the person in the hand bet 800, since I started with 5000 chips I decided to call, well I tried pressing the call button and 30 seconds later it said my hand was folded because I didn't act in time. So I was fairly pissed off, and I was tired of dealing with the site, so I pushed in with AK after about an hour of play because we went up 3 blind levels, and each blind level we got to see maybe 5 -10 hands because of the problems with the site. Well when I pushed in some guy had 7 7 and I didn't catch anything and was eliminated in 82nd place, most of the top 50 went out without any points as well, so I didn't feel to bad. The tour is scheduled to go to check 'n' raise at least one more time I don't know if I can play in it then.
I noticed there are a lot more players joining the tour every week, I checked my ranking and I am in 60th place after 2 events which isn't that bad considering there have been 11 events already. The tour stop next week is at interpoker so it should be much better.
8/13/2005 - Went over to my usual poker hangout spot, it was kind of thrown together at the last minute, and since I purchased some new poker chips I was anxious to play with them LOL. I don't know what it is about new poker chips, but for some reason they make you want to play. Well we played a few games of poker, I didn't do to well in the first game I went out first actually I made two pair on the flop, but the dragon made a better 2 pair, so there wasn't much to talk about in the first game, except to say that it was quick.
We started the second tournament a little bit later, and there were more people this time becuase everyone had come back. I played better this time, the funny thing is no matter how many times I play over there, and how much I know about how people play it never makes it easier to win. I actually had a few decent hands early, and I won a few smallish pots, I made sure to avoid the aggressive people at the table, my goal was to get them out of the hand pre-flop because they could just about any type of hand. I varied between playing loose and tight this time, I was really just making sure I had fun being the loud guy at the table, I think I have a little John Rober Bellande in me LOL. I usually remember a lot of hands, but for some reason a lot of the hands are escaping me because a lot of the pots I won were uncontested raises before the flop (just how I like it). One hand of note I was sitting in the small blind and the blind were a decent size $200/$400 I think, I was dealt * * off suit which I used to think was a monster hand, but really it's almost marginal in my book now. There were a lot of limpers in the pot 5 or so I think, so it comes to me and the pot odds are looking great, and the strange part was no one seemed inclined to raise, so I figured I was dealing with a lot of drawing/marginal hands J 9's, Q 10's, 6 7's, so I took my time to think about what I wanted to do, I didn't think anyone was slow playing a monster, so I decided to raise to $2800 the reason for this raise is that I wanted to determine if anyone had a real hand, it was a bit of a risky play since I only had about $9000 chips. Everyone folded after some posturing and looking me up, I actually wasn't nervous about it though, one thing I picked up from Harrington on Hold'em is when you make risky plays try to make sure it's a hand you can win with if you get in a bind. Raising with 7 2 does not really give you many chances to win, you are in essence hoping that your raise scares everyone away. With * * you have some options, and you will be ahead in most hands except against pairs or higher kickers. I don't raise with hands that I can't win with, 5 6 suited I can win with that and I may raise with it, but 10 4 off suit is almost a waste of time. So, I managed to take down several pots with a few semi-bluffs after the flop and winning an all-in or two.
Hand of note: By now if you have heard me talk poker or read this blog, pocket pairs have been responsible for me losing about $4000 in prize money that I could have won in tournaments had I thrown them away. So, pockets are really falling out of favor with me, well I was dealt 6 6 and I raised to $1000 this was relatively early in the tourney, Monica came over the top with an all in for another $5k, heck I only had about $6k left, she does bluff from time to time, but when she is putting all her chips in pre-flop I have never seen her have just rags. I knew she didn't have a pair for sure but I knew I was dealing with at least 1 over probably 2, so I knew I was in a race situation which for me I don't usually win, the funny thing is I almost look at J J and 6 6 the same way, they are susceptible to so many hands that there isn't much you can do. So I elected to fold, she had A K which I figured, and I rabbit hunted the cards and she would have caught a K on the river, so I made the proper laydown. I would call in that spot sometimes if I feel like gambling, but I didn't feel like I would win the hand, so I folded.
I ended up busting out of the tournament in 6th place, I made an effort to Bluff FDR out of a pot, the funny part about it is at the time I felt I was in the lead. FDR called my pre-flop raise, and when I called I knew he had a fiarly week hand probably something suited, or something he could make a straight off of. I had K J and felt it was probably the best hand at the time pre-flop, when the flop came it was all clubs and low cards. FDR checked and I checked right behind him, there was something suspicious about his check, and since I knew he was playing a bunk hand I knew he could have very well caught a piece of it. The next card was a Queen, FDR bet $4000, which was his standard bet that day, I knew he didn't have a queen, for him it was a semi-bluff, a part of me still felt my King high was good, and I knew he didn't have Queen even though he tried to act like he had one, so I immediately pushed all-in, he then had a hard decision to make. The all-in play accomplished a few things, it verified to me that he didn't have a Queen, or he had a Queen with a weak kicker, he didn't have a big pocket pair, he didn't have a set, and he didn't have the flush, just like I figured he played a bunk hand and now he was in a bind. One other thing is just the fact that he was considering calling also verified that he had at least a pair, which meant I was in trouble if he did call. Eventually he called and he made a pair of 6's on the flop, and I received no help on the river.
Some people may say what the hell were you thinking? I have made that play in several tournaments and it works most of the time, and it works well against people who play bunk hands. The funny thing is next time we are in that situation I may have him beat already, there is no way he can know what I have. The thing about it is when you enter a pot with a marginal hand even if you catch a piece of it your hand is susceptible to a variety of beats that can trump it. The agony you have to go through when someone puts you to the test, and you are holding low pair on the board is a tough thing to deal with, but that's what makes this game great.
I noticed there are a lot more players joining the tour every week, I checked my ranking and I am in 60th place after 2 events which isn't that bad considering there have been 11 events already. The tour stop next week is at interpoker so it should be much better.
8/13/2005 - Went over to my usual poker hangout spot, it was kind of thrown together at the last minute, and since I purchased some new poker chips I was anxious to play with them LOL. I don't know what it is about new poker chips, but for some reason they make you want to play. Well we played a few games of poker, I didn't do to well in the first game I went out first actually I made two pair on the flop, but the dragon made a better 2 pair, so there wasn't much to talk about in the first game, except to say that it was quick.
We started the second tournament a little bit later, and there were more people this time becuase everyone had come back. I played better this time, the funny thing is no matter how many times I play over there, and how much I know about how people play it never makes it easier to win. I actually had a few decent hands early, and I won a few smallish pots, I made sure to avoid the aggressive people at the table, my goal was to get them out of the hand pre-flop because they could just about any type of hand. I varied between playing loose and tight this time, I was really just making sure I had fun being the loud guy at the table, I think I have a little John Rober Bellande in me LOL. I usually remember a lot of hands, but for some reason a lot of the hands are escaping me because a lot of the pots I won were uncontested raises before the flop (just how I like it). One hand of note I was sitting in the small blind and the blind were a decent size $200/$400 I think, I was dealt * * off suit which I used to think was a monster hand, but really it's almost marginal in my book now. There were a lot of limpers in the pot 5 or so I think, so it comes to me and the pot odds are looking great, and the strange part was no one seemed inclined to raise, so I figured I was dealing with a lot of drawing/marginal hands J 9's, Q 10's, 6 7's, so I took my time to think about what I wanted to do, I didn't think anyone was slow playing a monster, so I decided to raise to $2800 the reason for this raise is that I wanted to determine if anyone had a real hand, it was a bit of a risky play since I only had about $9000 chips. Everyone folded after some posturing and looking me up, I actually wasn't nervous about it though, one thing I picked up from Harrington on Hold'em is when you make risky plays try to make sure it's a hand you can win with if you get in a bind. Raising with 7 2 does not really give you many chances to win, you are in essence hoping that your raise scares everyone away. With * * you have some options, and you will be ahead in most hands except against pairs or higher kickers. I don't raise with hands that I can't win with, 5 6 suited I can win with that and I may raise with it, but 10 4 off suit is almost a waste of time. So, I managed to take down several pots with a few semi-bluffs after the flop and winning an all-in or two.
Hand of note: By now if you have heard me talk poker or read this blog, pocket pairs have been responsible for me losing about $4000 in prize money that I could have won in tournaments had I thrown them away. So, pockets are really falling out of favor with me, well I was dealt 6 6 and I raised to $1000 this was relatively early in the tourney, Monica came over the top with an all in for another $5k, heck I only had about $6k left, she does bluff from time to time, but when she is putting all her chips in pre-flop I have never seen her have just rags. I knew she didn't have a pair for sure but I knew I was dealing with at least 1 over probably 2, so I knew I was in a race situation which for me I don't usually win, the funny thing is I almost look at J J and 6 6 the same way, they are susceptible to so many hands that there isn't much you can do. So I elected to fold, she had A K which I figured, and I rabbit hunted the cards and she would have caught a K on the river, so I made the proper laydown. I would call in that spot sometimes if I feel like gambling, but I didn't feel like I would win the hand, so I folded.
I ended up busting out of the tournament in 6th place, I made an effort to Bluff FDR out of a pot, the funny part about it is at the time I felt I was in the lead. FDR called my pre-flop raise, and when I called I knew he had a fiarly week hand probably something suited, or something he could make a straight off of. I had K J and felt it was probably the best hand at the time pre-flop, when the flop came it was all clubs and low cards. FDR checked and I checked right behind him, there was something suspicious about his check, and since I knew he was playing a bunk hand I knew he could have very well caught a piece of it. The next card was a Queen, FDR bet $4000, which was his standard bet that day, I knew he didn't have a queen, for him it was a semi-bluff, a part of me still felt my King high was good, and I knew he didn't have Queen even though he tried to act like he had one, so I immediately pushed all-in, he then had a hard decision to make. The all-in play accomplished a few things, it verified to me that he didn't have a Queen, or he had a Queen with a weak kicker, he didn't have a big pocket pair, he didn't have a set, and he didn't have the flush, just like I figured he played a bunk hand and now he was in a bind. One other thing is just the fact that he was considering calling also verified that he had at least a pair, which meant I was in trouble if he did call. Eventually he called and he made a pair of 6's on the flop, and I received no help on the river.
Some people may say what the hell were you thinking? I have made that play in several tournaments and it works most of the time, and it works well against people who play bunk hands. The funny thing is next time we are in that situation I may have him beat already, there is no way he can know what I have. The thing about it is when you enter a pot with a marginal hand even if you catch a piece of it your hand is susceptible to a variety of beats that can trump it. The agony you have to go through when someone puts you to the test, and you are holding low pair on the board is a tough thing to deal with, but that's what makes this game great.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Bluff Poker Tour Event #10 - Doyle's Room Poker Site
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I was reading the Bluff Magazine website and I came across a section talking about the Bluff Poker Tour, I started reading and it is a series of online poker tournaments at different poker sites on the net. The buy-in for each tournament is $30 + $3, they are held weekly, so I got excited and spent the next 2 hours signing up at the 15 or so online poker venues where the tournaments are held. The best part is you accrue points for finishing in the money, and at the end of the tour the top 2 players get free buy-ins to 4 WPT events next season. Also the winner of each tournament wins a Bluff Poker Tour chip protector from nutzchips that is worth $1000.
So the tournament this week was at Doylesroom.com, I missed the first nine events so unfortunately I have a lot of work to do, but there are still over 20 events left to go, so there is still a chance. Anyway I was excited in the days leading up to today, I was looking forward to playing some meaningful poker to see how I would do.
The first mistake I made was I got home with a foot long sub at 8:35pm, and I needed to take a shower, so once all that was done I was in front of the computer eating the sub and I hadn't given a thought to poker the entire day. So I wasn't in the right frame of mind, and on top of that I had never played on doylesroom.com before so I wasn't familiar with the interface.
The tournament starts and there are 120 players in the tourney, early on I tried to make a few plays with bluffs and semi-bluffs to get a chip lead, but bad timing and no chance to setup the bluffs made it difficult, so I was down early. The table was fairly tight then I was dealt, 10 8 suited hearts in the big blind with the blinds $30/$60, it was raised to $120 (which shows no particular strength), and there were 2 callers of the raise, so I called as well. The flop came 10 8 10 SB checked I checked someone bet $240, I waited and called everyone else folded the turn 6 he went all in I called he shows J 8, and he is drawing dead against my boat. I go up to $3500 in chips, and looking to finally be in good shape.
The tournament goes on and I get whittled down to $2000 (the starting chip amount) and I am BB, everyone else folds the SB raises to $1200 I figure he is trying to steal my blinds, so I re-raise alin and he calls showing Q Q I have AK, I catch an A on the turn to take the hand, boy was that lucky. I felt I needed to make a stand with a decent hand, and with AK the only thing I was scared of was a pair which he had, but a lucky catch saved me this time.
I then managed to increase my chip stack through a few all-ins against shorter stacks, I was behind in a few of them and I managed to win the hand. I worked hard to focus this tournament and I was playing well, I did get lucky a few times, but I went in with quality cards. I had about $8000 chips which was healthy at the time, and I managed to steal the blinds a few times because it was getting close to bubble time. Then I put a bad beat on one of the Bluff Magazine Editors (bluffmag1) he raised me and I went over the top with K 8, he called and the flop came K 8 7 he pushed all in I called and he turned over JJ I crippled his stack and he ended up being the bubble man.
I worked hard and increased my stack to $28,000 which was 4th in chips with 10 people left, I was overjoyed I made my first "Final Table", it's something I have longed to accomplish and it finally happened. I decided to try and go for the win, I was dealt 5 5 the chip leader tekhead raised in 1st position to 4500 the blinds were $600/$1200, I re-raised him to $10,500 he called, I re-raised because he built his chip stack through playing crap hands and getting very lucky on All-In calls. The flop came Q, 7, 9 tekhead immediately pushes all-in, I had seen him make that move several times with nothing, I thought about it and I felt I was in the lead still, so I called. He turns over A 5, I was correct he was bluffing (just playing horribly), well the lucky bastard caught an A on the river, if I could have won that hand I would have been in the drivers seat to win the tourney. I finished in 10th place, but I did get 51 points in my first Bluff Poker Tour Event, and some cash. Here is a link to the tournament results:
http://www.bluffpokertour.com/scheduleresults.asp?schedID=10
My first experience with the BPT was a good one, I am hoping to climb up the points scale it will be hard to catch Quackpot (the current leader who I knocked out in this tourney), but I think my game is getting better even though I am getting a bit tired of getting knocked out late in tourneys holding a pocket pair and getting beat by people catching cards. Next weeks BPT event is at http://www.checknraisepoker.com this is a very small site with not a lot of traffic, the tourney will be small, so maybe I can win one of those nutz chips.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Derby Lane 7-16-2005 - $45 No Limit Hold'em 150 entrants
The one thing I really hate about poker right now are options for places to play, the options I have are:
Hard Rock: Too Smokey and they take big chunks of the entry amounts, buy-in amounts for tournaments are freaking high.
Derby Lane: Horrible format 700 chips, Horrible players, have to get there at 11:00pm to get a seat, and have to wait until 1 pm toplay.
Online Poker: Sucks compared to a live game, reading people is diminished to betting patterns etc.
I really don't have a place to play where I enjoy the atmosphere and the people, that's a big deal in poker if you aren't comfortable at the place you play it makes playing there much harder. The Plaza Tournament in Vegas was really good, and the format was on par, the people there were cool too unlike at the places here.
Well, after my horrible showing at Derby last weekend (out on 3rd hand) I decided to try my luck again, and this time I figured I had to do better than last time LOL. Well once again I failed to pre-register the day before, so I had to get there early and wait the long hour or so before the tournament started. I was the last player to get a seat, and the funny thing is it's the same people that play there every week. I used to play at Derby a lot and I stopped playing there for a long time, I come back almost a year later and the same people are lining up to play here. I would have thought maybe they would be tired of Derby by now I can't play there all the time, I don't see how they do it.
Well, I decided to go to Bennigans before the tourney to relax eat and read some more of Harrington on Hold'em before the tournament. I was just getting to the part where he was going over tells, so I decieded to focus on that today in the tourney. I got back to Derby with about 5 minutes to go before tourney time and I took my seat. I surveyed the table as I sat down, and the first red flag that went up was this guy with a strong accent I think he was romanian or something those guys are almost always aggresive, he was acting before me which was good there was an elderly guy there had to be in his 80's, so I figured he would probably be tight and only play face cards (I know I shouldn't profile players before I see a hand, but I can tell a bit about how someone plays listening to them talk, and how they act).
So the tournament starts and I start out as the small blind, and I get dealt J 10 not a bad hand to get in the small blind, everyone folded around to me, so since it was the first hand and I didn't have any information about the big blind, I limped, then he did the stupid automatic big blind raise to 30 (10/15 blinds), what a weak raise so I just called and the flop came A K 7, I bet 15 as a feeler bet and he came back over the top for 30, I laughed in my head as I folded my hand. I already had a beat on this guy the words weak were spread all over, not because of his bet, but because of how nervous he was coming over the top for 30 chips.
As the tournament went on I gathered information about the other players, and I had a good feel for each player and felt good about entering pots against them. The player who was in the chip lead at our table was betting big and taking down pots left and right and he had elminated the Romanian guy on the 6th hand (told you he was aggresive), I figured he was bluffing like anyones business, so I was waiting to pick my spot to bust him, but one guy he pushed out of a pot said "nice steal", this guy got pissed and said, "nice steal!, nice steal!, you don't win these dubllons (spelling?) by stealing, and he pulls his Derby Lane victory coins out of his pocket and tosses them the table towards the guy and shows his hand, he had the nuts. So that was free information for me, he wasn't bluffing, so I changed my strategy against him.
the guy in 4th position opened the pot with a raise to 75, the eldery guy called, and another person called every else folded I was big blind, I look down at my hand and I have JJ, so I survey all the players who called and the initial raiser and I push all in (the squeeze play kind of), and every folds except the old man who says we might as well do it and he flips over KQ, I had him covered by plenty, a J came on the flop to give me the hand, and I was moved to another table with a total of $4000 chips.
I sat down at the next table and there was one hand of note, there were 2 big stacks at the table, so I figured aggressive players maybe, so I watched a few hands, one of the guys (vietnamese guy) was aggresive and the other guy was very tight. The reason I pointed out the other guys race is because a lot of asian players I come across are usually aggresive at least 75% of the time, so it's more for my info than stereotyping. Anyway the asian guy raises to $125 everyone folds it comes to me I have KJ suited hearts, I call the flop comes J 7 3 all clubs, so I check he bets 200, I re-raise to 600 he starts to think about it for while and looks over at me, then he goes al-in (I felt that move coming for some reason, he seemed to be defending a hand rather than winning one), so I think about the odds of him having a flush, and I decide to call he flips over QJ oh yeah, and I eliminate him and move up $6000 chips.
I move to the 3rd table there are only 3 tables left at this point about 21 people top 18 get paid, everyone is playing tight and stupid as usual all of a sudden they forget how to play poker and they just go all-in every hand. This one player goes all in for 1800, and I had been watching him and felt I had a good read on him, plus the way he was looking just said he didn't have that great of a hand. I look down and I have pocket 10's, I call he flips over Q 4 suited diamonds and says you got me man. Q 4 suited? WTF is he thinking? Well the flop comes Q, and I don't catch a 10 and he wins the pot, he then apologizes for making a stupid play, I tell him it's part of the game, it's not a big deal etc... even though I was now crippled. But this situation spells the exact reason I hate Derby it's the players more than anything his bet was in early position, he could have at least waited to steal from other positions that were more favorable, he got lucky he caught a Queen because he was behind.
I ended up the bubble man again going out in 19th place because that all-in loss crippled me then the blinds went up to 500/1000 so I was a goner anyway. My curse at Derby continues, I play well all the time when I go there, but I don't have any decent winnings to show for it, but I am patient it will come in due time.
Hard Rock: Too Smokey and they take big chunks of the entry amounts, buy-in amounts for tournaments are freaking high.
Derby Lane: Horrible format 700 chips, Horrible players, have to get there at 11:00pm to get a seat, and have to wait until 1 pm toplay.
Online Poker: Sucks compared to a live game, reading people is diminished to betting patterns etc.
I really don't have a place to play where I enjoy the atmosphere and the people, that's a big deal in poker if you aren't comfortable at the place you play it makes playing there much harder. The Plaza Tournament in Vegas was really good, and the format was on par, the people there were cool too unlike at the places here.
Well, after my horrible showing at Derby last weekend (out on 3rd hand) I decided to try my luck again, and this time I figured I had to do better than last time LOL. Well once again I failed to pre-register the day before, so I had to get there early and wait the long hour or so before the tournament started. I was the last player to get a seat, and the funny thing is it's the same people that play there every week. I used to play at Derby a lot and I stopped playing there for a long time, I come back almost a year later and the same people are lining up to play here. I would have thought maybe they would be tired of Derby by now I can't play there all the time, I don't see how they do it.
Well, I decided to go to Bennigans before the tourney to relax eat and read some more of Harrington on Hold'em before the tournament. I was just getting to the part where he was going over tells, so I decieded to focus on that today in the tourney. I got back to Derby with about 5 minutes to go before tourney time and I took my seat. I surveyed the table as I sat down, and the first red flag that went up was this guy with a strong accent I think he was romanian or something those guys are almost always aggresive, he was acting before me which was good there was an elderly guy there had to be in his 80's, so I figured he would probably be tight and only play face cards (I know I shouldn't profile players before I see a hand, but I can tell a bit about how someone plays listening to them talk, and how they act).
So the tournament starts and I start out as the small blind, and I get dealt J 10 not a bad hand to get in the small blind, everyone folded around to me, so since it was the first hand and I didn't have any information about the big blind, I limped, then he did the stupid automatic big blind raise to 30 (10/15 blinds), what a weak raise so I just called and the flop came A K 7, I bet 15 as a feeler bet and he came back over the top for 30, I laughed in my head as I folded my hand. I already had a beat on this guy the words weak were spread all over, not because of his bet, but because of how nervous he was coming over the top for 30 chips.
As the tournament went on I gathered information about the other players, and I had a good feel for each player and felt good about entering pots against them. The player who was in the chip lead at our table was betting big and taking down pots left and right and he had elminated the Romanian guy on the 6th hand (told you he was aggresive), I figured he was bluffing like anyones business, so I was waiting to pick my spot to bust him, but one guy he pushed out of a pot said "nice steal", this guy got pissed and said, "nice steal!, nice steal!, you don't win these dubllons (spelling?) by stealing, and he pulls his Derby Lane victory coins out of his pocket and tosses them the table towards the guy and shows his hand, he had the nuts. So that was free information for me, he wasn't bluffing, so I changed my strategy against him.
the guy in 4th position opened the pot with a raise to 75, the eldery guy called, and another person called every else folded I was big blind, I look down at my hand and I have JJ, so I survey all the players who called and the initial raiser and I push all in (the squeeze play kind of), and every folds except the old man who says we might as well do it and he flips over KQ, I had him covered by plenty, a J came on the flop to give me the hand, and I was moved to another table with a total of $4000 chips.
I sat down at the next table and there was one hand of note, there were 2 big stacks at the table, so I figured aggressive players maybe, so I watched a few hands, one of the guys (vietnamese guy) was aggresive and the other guy was very tight. The reason I pointed out the other guys race is because a lot of asian players I come across are usually aggresive at least 75% of the time, so it's more for my info than stereotyping. Anyway the asian guy raises to $125 everyone folds it comes to me I have KJ suited hearts, I call the flop comes J 7 3 all clubs, so I check he bets 200, I re-raise to 600 he starts to think about it for while and looks over at me, then he goes al-in (I felt that move coming for some reason, he seemed to be defending a hand rather than winning one), so I think about the odds of him having a flush, and I decide to call he flips over QJ oh yeah, and I eliminate him and move up $6000 chips.
I move to the 3rd table there are only 3 tables left at this point about 21 people top 18 get paid, everyone is playing tight and stupid as usual all of a sudden they forget how to play poker and they just go all-in every hand. This one player goes all in for 1800, and I had been watching him and felt I had a good read on him, plus the way he was looking just said he didn't have that great of a hand. I look down and I have pocket 10's, I call he flips over Q 4 suited diamonds and says you got me man. Q 4 suited? WTF is he thinking? Well the flop comes Q, and I don't catch a 10 and he wins the pot, he then apologizes for making a stupid play, I tell him it's part of the game, it's not a big deal etc... even though I was now crippled. But this situation spells the exact reason I hate Derby it's the players more than anything his bet was in early position, he could have at least waited to steal from other positions that were more favorable, he got lucky he caught a Queen because he was behind.
I ended up the bubble man again going out in 19th place because that all-in loss crippled me then the blinds went up to 500/1000 so I was a goner anyway. My curse at Derby continues, I play well all the time when I go there, but I don't have any decent winnings to show for it, but I am patient it will come in due time.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Not quite done with Party Poker yet, but I still hate it!!!
I was on tilt when I posted my previous message, I still f&*king hate Party Poker, but I still have a Mini Step 4 free roll that is still yet to be played, so I logged in earlier today to play my freeroll and hit rock bottom on party poker.
The freeroll itself is worth about $150, so it is nothing to scream at too bad I can't just sell the damn thing. So I hop in the room ready to play, and the first hand I get pocket Q's, I was in the Big Blind and this is all you can ask for from the big blind position. A guy in late position raised the pot to $75, and everyone else folded, it was the perfect situation I was in the Big Blind with a monster, so I called his raise and the flop came 3 K Q, oh shi* I hit a set, there were two spades out there but since we were heads up I figured there was no way this guy had two clubs, so I checked and he came out with a bet of 100, I raised the bet to 200, he thought about it for a second and called. the next card was a 7 of clubs there is a flush on the board, so I feign like I am backing off of my bets and check he checks to be safe and the river is a 6 of spades and the action is to me. I take a long time trying to figure out a bet he would call so I bet 225 into him, he called it and I show my 3 Q's to take an early lead. As the game went on I had worked my way into the chip lead, and I wanted to tighten up but I then made a mistake. I was big blind and everyone else folded but the small blind, he thought about his hand for a while because I had 2700 chips and he only had 800 he limped and called the BB, I figured he had a somewhat weak hand, but the mistake I made was I wasn't paying attention to the game instead I was text messaging someone and I just checked instead of raising, I had 10 9 off suit BTW. The flop came J 4 6, he bet and I raised he called, the turn was a 7 of Clubs he pushed all in and I called with nothing the river came with another 4 and he busted me with J 2 off suit, what a horrible hand here are the mistakes I made just in case you are counting:
1. Wasn't paying attention to the game
2. Let small blind limp when I had a dominant chip position and it was heads up
3. I compounded the problem by calling his bet knowing he was short stacked
4. Even after he called my raise the betting should have stopped there
5. I called an all-in for a smallish pot
That demolished my chip lead and I was out in 6th place several hands later my reward was an entry into Mini Step 3, oh great I drop a level.
So I went into mini-step 3 pissed off about my snafu in the earlier game and even more pissed at party poker, maybe I play better when I am pissed because I took control of the table from wire to wire. I was table captain by the 10 hand and my stack increased from there, this was the perfect table for my playing style everyone was playing somewhat tight because they must have paid their own money to get there instead of winning their way there like I did, so I used some of the knowledge I have gained from Harrington on Hold'em, and I won a few big pots early using brute big betting with good hands and when the people folded or called my bet ont he river I showed all good hands KQ, AK, 99 and I used checking to setup all the hands, this caused the exact effect I was looking for. I was able to steal pots later by just betting because everyone was playing so tight, and they were scared to bet when i would check a hand because they remember how I beat people earlier, after 5 people were eliminated I was gauranteed no worse than an entry at the same level I was at so I picked my game up even more. I then elminated 2 people in a row and I had 5000 chips %50 of the total chips in play, and people were scared to play in pots against me, that doesn't happen all that often when I play because there is always someone who feels they have to stand up to you. So it got down to 3 people left I still had about 5400 the guy to my left had 850 and the other player had about 3500 or so. The top 2 move to the next level and for the first time I found a player on the same page as me, we took turns raising the blinds on the small stack and we team all-in'd him 2 times but couldn't get him out. I finally took him out when I cracked his AA with a horrible beat I made a straight with 7 9, I call those Party Poker Hookups.
At this point it doesn't matter who finishes first and I was content just going all in until it was over because we both were getting the same prize entry into mini step 4. Well I went all in and lost on the first hand and I had about 1700 chips left, then I went all int he next hand and he folded, then he folded the blinds to me on the next hand. So, I figured I might as well get some practice in with heads up play, I put my bully mask back on and I intimidated him from the short stack, I went from 1700 to 8000 chips in a dominating chip position, and I eventually won, it pumped me up it was about as perfect as I have ever played a game of poker. A lot of things went my way, and I made the right decisions and most importantly I was focused most of the time.
Hand of note:
I was big blind and dealt K 4 I had 4 limpers flop came KC 7D 9D, I checked and everyone else checked except jbaum he bet 75, I immediately figured he was taking a stab and missed his hand 2 people folded and I called along with someone else, the next card was a 4S I had hit two pair, so I lead out with a bet of 275 the other guy went away jbaum called the 250, the river was 3D, I feared maybe he was chasing a flush so I only bet 50, jbaum came back over the top for 350, the pot was big, and I was holding 2 pair in my hand jbaum was representing a flush, and 350 was about a fourth of my chips, so I would still be healthy (that's not what I was thinking lol, that's what I should have been thinking), instead I was still pissed about my recent bad luck from the day before and I said f%@k it I don't have anything to lose, he has the flush great I will be done with Party quicker and I called he had J 10 and I took half of his chips. I was thinking it was a bluff, but I may have laid that hand down if I wasn't as loose as I was.
Overall I think this was a blessing in disguise playing tight is a good strategy, but in poker you have to put yourself in a good position to win, and even then you will lose, so loosen up and play your game. I think I can use all of this as a way of improving my game, I will put the hands in poker tracker and see how I played them when I get home.
The freeroll itself is worth about $150, so it is nothing to scream at too bad I can't just sell the damn thing. So I hop in the room ready to play, and the first hand I get pocket Q's, I was in the Big Blind and this is all you can ask for from the big blind position. A guy in late position raised the pot to $75, and everyone else folded, it was the perfect situation I was in the Big Blind with a monster, so I called his raise and the flop came 3 K Q, oh shi* I hit a set, there were two spades out there but since we were heads up I figured there was no way this guy had two clubs, so I checked and he came out with a bet of 100, I raised the bet to 200, he thought about it for a second and called. the next card was a 7 of clubs there is a flush on the board, so I feign like I am backing off of my bets and check he checks to be safe and the river is a 6 of spades and the action is to me. I take a long time trying to figure out a bet he would call so I bet 225 into him, he called it and I show my 3 Q's to take an early lead. As the game went on I had worked my way into the chip lead, and I wanted to tighten up but I then made a mistake. I was big blind and everyone else folded but the small blind, he thought about his hand for a while because I had 2700 chips and he only had 800 he limped and called the BB, I figured he had a somewhat weak hand, but the mistake I made was I wasn't paying attention to the game instead I was text messaging someone and I just checked instead of raising, I had 10 9 off suit BTW. The flop came J 4 6, he bet and I raised he called, the turn was a 7 of Clubs he pushed all in and I called with nothing the river came with another 4 and he busted me with J 2 off suit, what a horrible hand here are the mistakes I made just in case you are counting:
1. Wasn't paying attention to the game
2. Let small blind limp when I had a dominant chip position and it was heads up
3. I compounded the problem by calling his bet knowing he was short stacked
4. Even after he called my raise the betting should have stopped there
5. I called an all-in for a smallish pot
That demolished my chip lead and I was out in 6th place several hands later my reward was an entry into Mini Step 3, oh great I drop a level.
So I went into mini-step 3 pissed off about my snafu in the earlier game and even more pissed at party poker, maybe I play better when I am pissed because I took control of the table from wire to wire. I was table captain by the 10 hand and my stack increased from there, this was the perfect table for my playing style everyone was playing somewhat tight because they must have paid their own money to get there instead of winning their way there like I did, so I used some of the knowledge I have gained from Harrington on Hold'em, and I won a few big pots early using brute big betting with good hands and when the people folded or called my bet ont he river I showed all good hands KQ, AK, 99 and I used checking to setup all the hands, this caused the exact effect I was looking for. I was able to steal pots later by just betting because everyone was playing so tight, and they were scared to bet when i would check a hand because they remember how I beat people earlier, after 5 people were eliminated I was gauranteed no worse than an entry at the same level I was at so I picked my game up even more. I then elminated 2 people in a row and I had 5000 chips %50 of the total chips in play, and people were scared to play in pots against me, that doesn't happen all that often when I play because there is always someone who feels they have to stand up to you. So it got down to 3 people left I still had about 5400 the guy to my left had 850 and the other player had about 3500 or so. The top 2 move to the next level and for the first time I found a player on the same page as me, we took turns raising the blinds on the small stack and we team all-in'd him 2 times but couldn't get him out. I finally took him out when I cracked his AA with a horrible beat I made a straight with 7 9, I call those Party Poker Hookups.
At this point it doesn't matter who finishes first and I was content just going all in until it was over because we both were getting the same prize entry into mini step 4. Well I went all in and lost on the first hand and I had about 1700 chips left, then I went all int he next hand and he folded, then he folded the blinds to me on the next hand. So, I figured I might as well get some practice in with heads up play, I put my bully mask back on and I intimidated him from the short stack, I went from 1700 to 8000 chips in a dominating chip position, and I eventually won, it pumped me up it was about as perfect as I have ever played a game of poker. A lot of things went my way, and I made the right decisions and most importantly I was focused most of the time.
Hand of note:
I was big blind and dealt K 4 I had 4 limpers flop came KC 7D 9D, I checked and everyone else checked except jbaum he bet 75, I immediately figured he was taking a stab and missed his hand 2 people folded and I called along with someone else, the next card was a 4S I had hit two pair, so I lead out with a bet of 275 the other guy went away jbaum called the 250, the river was 3D, I feared maybe he was chasing a flush so I only bet 50, jbaum came back over the top for 350, the pot was big, and I was holding 2 pair in my hand jbaum was representing a flush, and 350 was about a fourth of my chips, so I would still be healthy (that's not what I was thinking lol, that's what I should have been thinking), instead I was still pissed about my recent bad luck from the day before and I said f%@k it I don't have anything to lose, he has the flush great I will be done with Party quicker and I called he had J 10 and I took half of his chips. I was thinking it was a bluff, but I may have laid that hand down if I wasn't as loose as I was.
Overall I think this was a blessing in disguise playing tight is a good strategy, but in poker you have to put yourself in a good position to win, and even then you will lose, so loosen up and play your game. I think I can use all of this as a way of improving my game, I will put the hands in poker tracker and see how I played them when I get home.
I hate Party Poker, moving to a new site!!!!
You know I have played Poker on the Internet for a long time, and I for the most part enjoy it even though I don't think it's real poker and a poor substitute for a live game. I have had a crap load of bad beats on there, and combined with the bad players it increases the amount of times it happens. The only reason I played on party mostly is because it's really easy to find a game, there are so many players and vast majority of them Ducks. Well last night it was the straw that broke the camels back.
I probably haven't posted much about my disdain for $1/$2 limit hold'em cash games, the reason I hate them is because there is no strategy utilized by most of the players. They play every hand even if you raise it to $2.00 the still come in the pot with crap, then they get nothing on the flop and you bet to push them out and they still call because it's so cheap. Then the turn and river they can monster hands and you lose $30 bucks to garbage.
I decided to take a break from my normal sit n' go tourneys and play limit hold'em $1/$2, I quickly made about $40 dollars things are looking good then I run into this:
I hold 7 8 in my hand and I raise to $2.00 to push some of the people out of the pot 3 people go away and one guy things for a long time then calls. the flop comes 4D 6D 5C, oh crap I flopped a straight just what I hoped for, so one guy bets I raise and everyone calls, hmm what could they have you know it's nothing they just stay in because they are fing stupid or on a draw. the next card is a J once again a bet comes I raise and one guy goes away I now have 3 people in the pot with me. The next card is 7D, oh great a flush one guy bets he gets raised by another guy and I re-raise hoping no one made the flush the first guy folds and the other guy calls, he flips over 3D 5D to make a straight flush, and I lose about $20 in that pot.
The next hand I had a Queen high straight on the flop and once again I am raising and betting to try and push people out of the pot. One dufus just kept calling (He did this all game) and the one card I didn't need to see on the river was a K becaue they would allow someone with an A to have a higher straight and what comes on the river a freaking K, and I lose aobut $30 there.
As the game progressed I have a straight 3 other times and each of those three times I lost, 2 times to a full house 7' full of 8's and 5's full of 3's, and the other time I lost to 4 of a kind 5's. I know this happens in limit hold'em all the time, but to me it seems this kind of stuff happens on Party Poker a little more than other poker sites, I could be wrong but I just need a change. Plus on top of that when I went from having about $130 all the way down to having $30, one of the pubes in the room who was playing bad cards and getting lucky was like "Marksman your horrible why don't you just quit?" I usually don't respond to the dufus's that run their mouth spewing crap in the rooms, but I just lose $100 so I was kind of pissed. Even though the money I lost was money I had won I was still pissed, so I asked him if he was such a big shot why the hell was he in a $1/$2 room instead of a $5/$10 room and he said "I am building my bankroll, I started with $30 3 hours ago, and now I am up to $80." I almost fell out of my chair laughing at him, the reason is all of these people on Party Poker are "building their bankroll" and they don't have the first concept of how to play the game. He was like what's so funny, I said if you keep calling raises with 3 8 off suit your bankroll won't be building for long. So to top it all off I said this is my last hand K J suited, I typed a message in the box and said watch me lose with this hand, plus I had just lost with Pocket JJ's to 7 2 and a guy caught a 3rd 2 on the river. Well anyway I play my K J and I lose the hand nothing hit on the flop, but my opponent had A J and there was no A on the board, typical party poker. So I will probably go back to poker stars and open up an account on Paradise Poker, I will still play on Ultimate Bet from time to time.
Plus I read a note on Poker Prophecy.com that said party pokers software scans your hard drive and if it detects poker prophecy on the machine it will notify them and send you an email stating that you are gaining an unfair advantage on your opponents. When the hell did gathering information about how your opponent plays become such a crime? They have pretty much pissed me off, and I don't even use poker prophecy except to get stats every once and a while off of their website. I have a new program called poker tracker that I use to download my results into and it gives a deep analysis of your play, so I will be mostly using that from now on.
Enough on my rant for now, I will be in a better mood once school is out in 2 weeks.
I probably haven't posted much about my disdain for $1/$2 limit hold'em cash games, the reason I hate them is because there is no strategy utilized by most of the players. They play every hand even if you raise it to $2.00 the still come in the pot with crap, then they get nothing on the flop and you bet to push them out and they still call because it's so cheap. Then the turn and river they can monster hands and you lose $30 bucks to garbage.
I decided to take a break from my normal sit n' go tourneys and play limit hold'em $1/$2, I quickly made about $40 dollars things are looking good then I run into this:
I hold 7 8 in my hand and I raise to $2.00 to push some of the people out of the pot 3 people go away and one guy things for a long time then calls. the flop comes 4D 6D 5C, oh crap I flopped a straight just what I hoped for, so one guy bets I raise and everyone calls, hmm what could they have you know it's nothing they just stay in because they are fing stupid or on a draw. the next card is a J once again a bet comes I raise and one guy goes away I now have 3 people in the pot with me. The next card is 7D, oh great a flush one guy bets he gets raised by another guy and I re-raise hoping no one made the flush the first guy folds and the other guy calls, he flips over 3D 5D to make a straight flush, and I lose about $20 in that pot.
The next hand I had a Queen high straight on the flop and once again I am raising and betting to try and push people out of the pot. One dufus just kept calling (He did this all game) and the one card I didn't need to see on the river was a K becaue they would allow someone with an A to have a higher straight and what comes on the river a freaking K, and I lose aobut $30 there.
As the game progressed I have a straight 3 other times and each of those three times I lost, 2 times to a full house 7' full of 8's and 5's full of 3's, and the other time I lost to 4 of a kind 5's. I know this happens in limit hold'em all the time, but to me it seems this kind of stuff happens on Party Poker a little more than other poker sites, I could be wrong but I just need a change. Plus on top of that when I went from having about $130 all the way down to having $30, one of the pubes in the room who was playing bad cards and getting lucky was like "Marksman your horrible why don't you just quit?" I usually don't respond to the dufus's that run their mouth spewing crap in the rooms, but I just lose $100 so I was kind of pissed. Even though the money I lost was money I had won I was still pissed, so I asked him if he was such a big shot why the hell was he in a $1/$2 room instead of a $5/$10 room and he said "I am building my bankroll, I started with $30 3 hours ago, and now I am up to $80." I almost fell out of my chair laughing at him, the reason is all of these people on Party Poker are "building their bankroll" and they don't have the first concept of how to play the game. He was like what's so funny, I said if you keep calling raises with 3 8 off suit your bankroll won't be building for long. So to top it all off I said this is my last hand K J suited, I typed a message in the box and said watch me lose with this hand, plus I had just lost with Pocket JJ's to 7 2 and a guy caught a 3rd 2 on the river. Well anyway I play my K J and I lose the hand nothing hit on the flop, but my opponent had A J and there was no A on the board, typical party poker. So I will probably go back to poker stars and open up an account on Paradise Poker, I will still play on Ultimate Bet from time to time.
Plus I read a note on Poker Prophecy.com that said party pokers software scans your hard drive and if it detects poker prophecy on the machine it will notify them and send you an email stating that you are gaining an unfair advantage on your opponents. When the hell did gathering information about how your opponent plays become such a crime? They have pretty much pissed me off, and I don't even use poker prophecy except to get stats every once and a while off of their website. I have a new program called poker tracker that I use to download my results into and it gives a deep analysis of your play, so I will be mostly using that from now on.
Enough on my rant for now, I will be in a better mood once school is out in 2 weeks.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Poker at Derby Lane the bane of my existance
The past few days have been good for me poker wise, I cashed in 6 out of 8 online Sit n' go's I played in a tournament on Ultimate Bet and I was close to cashing there, if it weren't for an unbelievable bad beat, I have gotten used to that crap online. Well Sunday I decided to go to the Dog Track (Derby Lane) to play in the daily poker tournaments they have there, I really don't like the format there much you only get 700 chips, and the blinds move up fairly quickly.
My history at Derby Lane is mixed and spotted, I have never made a final table there, but I have finished between 10 - 15 five times, Derby is like that nemesis that you can't conquer, plus it doesn't help that there are some bad players at Derby. Anyway I brave tropical storm force winds and I register, there is an hour or so before the tournament starts, so to pass the time I read some notes from my upcoming test on Tuesday (Big Mistake), but I figured it would be the most efficient use of the time.
I head to my seat about 12:55pm and I see Lamar Thomas walking off the elevator, those that don't know who he is, he used to play for the Miami Hurricanes on their National Championship team, and he played for the Dolphins. He now hosts a sports show here in the Bay area, even though I am a big UM fan and he is a UM legend I am never the type to ask someone for their autograph, I thought it was funny he also plays at Derby.
Anyway I survey the folks at my table and even though I haven't played at Derby in months, there were a lot of the same people there, I get dealt J 10 on the first hand in 3rd position I decided to play it even though I said I was going to sit back and watch a few hands to get a read on what type of players I was up against. The flop came A 6 9 3 people checked in front of me I checked as well, and scruffy bet 250, I laughed to myself because he bet 250 chips to win 60, so I immediately pegged him as an aggressive player, the next hand I was dealt J 7 off suit I folded and scruffy was in the pot with 2 other players, the flop came 6 Q 6 and the other to players check scruffy bets 300, once again a 300 bet to win 45 chips this time, so I knew he was going to be a prime candidate for the rope-a-dope if I could get him setup.
Here is where my life starts sucking, I am dealt Pocket 9's in first position I just limp, the guy next to me raises to 75, everyone else folds, raising in early position usually indicates a strong hand, I figured he had AK, AQ, a small pocket, or something along those lines, so I call his raise and the flop comes 4 8 2 I check he bets 50 I come over the top for 250 he goes all-in, I was sure I had the best hand, and before I even thought about it I called he flips over KK and I show my 99 and I don't catch a 9, and I am one of the first 5 people eliminated. I played for all of 10 minutes, sucked balls and is my biggest low in poker I have never been out of a tournament that early, so I start analyzing the hand. I already know it's hard for me to put people on Pocket pairs and sets most of the time, and if I had JJ, QQ, 1010 would I have made the same call the answer is yes, the problem was I made the wrong read, and I didn't stop to re-process the information, I only compounded the problem by not following my plan of playing conservative to start out until I get settled in. It was bad luck that he was dealt KK and I got 99, most of the time I would be in the lead in that situation, but you learn something new every time you play.
This is the reason I am going to try and play in more live games, you pickup bad habits playing online and you get lazy, I am playing in more live games to improve my reading skills, because online there is only so much reading you can do. Plus there is a process I need to go through at each stage of betting, for the most part it would have made more sense for me to let him have the pot it was only 150, once I made my stab I should have folded the 99, and lived to play other hands. Hopefully my next outing will be better.
My history at Derby Lane is mixed and spotted, I have never made a final table there, but I have finished between 10 - 15 five times, Derby is like that nemesis that you can't conquer, plus it doesn't help that there are some bad players at Derby. Anyway I brave tropical storm force winds and I register, there is an hour or so before the tournament starts, so to pass the time I read some notes from my upcoming test on Tuesday (Big Mistake), but I figured it would be the most efficient use of the time.
I head to my seat about 12:55pm and I see Lamar Thomas walking off the elevator, those that don't know who he is, he used to play for the Miami Hurricanes on their National Championship team, and he played for the Dolphins. He now hosts a sports show here in the Bay area, even though I am a big UM fan and he is a UM legend I am never the type to ask someone for their autograph, I thought it was funny he also plays at Derby.
Anyway I survey the folks at my table and even though I haven't played at Derby in months, there were a lot of the same people there, I get dealt J 10 on the first hand in 3rd position I decided to play it even though I said I was going to sit back and watch a few hands to get a read on what type of players I was up against. The flop came A 6 9 3 people checked in front of me I checked as well, and scruffy bet 250, I laughed to myself because he bet 250 chips to win 60, so I immediately pegged him as an aggressive player, the next hand I was dealt J 7 off suit I folded and scruffy was in the pot with 2 other players, the flop came 6 Q 6 and the other to players check scruffy bets 300, once again a 300 bet to win 45 chips this time, so I knew he was going to be a prime candidate for the rope-a-dope if I could get him setup.
Here is where my life starts sucking, I am dealt Pocket 9's in first position I just limp, the guy next to me raises to 75, everyone else folds, raising in early position usually indicates a strong hand, I figured he had AK, AQ, a small pocket, or something along those lines, so I call his raise and the flop comes 4 8 2 I check he bets 50 I come over the top for 250 he goes all-in, I was sure I had the best hand, and before I even thought about it I called he flips over KK and I show my 99 and I don't catch a 9, and I am one of the first 5 people eliminated. I played for all of 10 minutes, sucked balls and is my biggest low in poker I have never been out of a tournament that early, so I start analyzing the hand. I already know it's hard for me to put people on Pocket pairs and sets most of the time, and if I had JJ, QQ, 1010 would I have made the same call the answer is yes, the problem was I made the wrong read, and I didn't stop to re-process the information, I only compounded the problem by not following my plan of playing conservative to start out until I get settled in. It was bad luck that he was dealt KK and I got 99, most of the time I would be in the lead in that situation, but you learn something new every time you play.
This is the reason I am going to try and play in more live games, you pickup bad habits playing online and you get lazy, I am playing in more live games to improve my reading skills, because online there is only so much reading you can do. Plus there is a process I need to go through at each stage of betting, for the most part it would have made more sense for me to let him have the pot it was only 150, once I made my stab I should have folded the 99, and lived to play other hands. Hopefully my next outing will be better.
Friday, July 08, 2005
Poker Itch Scratched at Hard Rock Casino
I was sitting around after I got out of class on Wednesday night, and I had nothing to do. I watched a WPT re-run that was won by Daniel Negreaneu, and I really didn't feel like playing poker online much, but I wanted to play in a live game. Being that the only places around here to play poker Derby Lane and Seminole Hard Rock Casino all have things about them I don't like, I really felt like I had no options, but I was really tired of playing online and decided to head to Seminole Hard Rock Casino.
I get there, and I really didn't feel like playing Limit Hold'em or Omaha, so I signed up for one of their $40 satellites to their $240 buy-in tournaments on Sundays. I think playing more live games will be the next level in making my game rise to the next level, because I need to get used to being at the table with people I don't know and reading them while being the life of the table. So I end up waiting about 25 minutes, and then I get called to the table.
I sit down and basically the format is like this, you get 1000 chips and you have to beat 9 other people to win the buy-in, this is the perfect format for me because I play in single table sit n go's all day long. I look at the people at the table to start trying to figure out what I am up against, and I will say this I don't think I am better than anyone else, but I felt confident as I got settled in. One guy was on the phone talking to his friend in Vegas and relaying the information to another friend at our table, another guy had just been eliminated in 9th place from another satellite table and he had signed up for two tables just in case he lost the first one early (which he did). The other players didn't look like they could even calculate pot odds, there was one player who was a little bit younger than me and he looked like he may be the most competition for me.
I start out playing tight for the first few hands to see what the texture of the table is going to be, by the 3rd hand we had lost one player and I hadn't even played a hand yet. Then the guy talking on the phone was in the big blind and everyone folded except 1 guy, the dealer couldn't ask the guy if he wanted to raise because he was standing up, so the dealer dealt the flop, it came J 3 3, the guy in the big blind looked at his cards and bet 100, the young guy raised to 550, then the guy on the phone said you have a 3 don't you bastard, he put him all in and flipped over Pocket Queens, the young guy flipped over K3, then the guy that was on the phone started bitching at the dealer that he never got an option to raise because he would have raised with the Queens, he was eliminated.
Anyway, I was dealt K 10 off suit and was quickly raised by the young guy, the extra satellite guy called him and the flop came Q 6 K, the young guy checked and the other guy bet 300, the young guy raised to 600, and the other guy folded and showed A 6 the young guy showed A Q, I was glad they showed I was able to gather much needed Intel about both players. So I am dealt 10 9 off suit in the Big Blind, there are 4 callers including the small blind the flop comes, 10 10 7, the small blind checks, I check (decided to slow play my 10's) and everyone else checks, the next card is a J, I was hoping for a face card to get some action, the small blind folds(checking is free?), I check again I get a bet of 100 then the young guys calls the 100, then the dealer button bets 200, I raise to 400 everyone goes away except the guy on the button, he just calls. The river card comes and it's an 8, I bet 400 hoping for a call he thinks about it for a long time, then he calls and flips over K J, I show my 10's and take the pot he says "Nice Hand". I basically doubled up on that pot which was a good sign.
My cards started getting hot, I was dealt pocket Aces 3 hands later, and I was one position behind the dealer button, I promptly raised to $225, one guy who had limped got pissed off and said "fine all-in", everyone else folded, I asked him for a chip count it was $575 total I put in the additional amount and flip over my Aces he gets up and leaves without seeing the flop he had A 6 off suit, and he didn't catch anything to beat me.
Several other people get knocked out now we are down to 3 handed poker, which is by far my worst point in tournaments, when it's 3 handed I just don't make good decisions, I was second in chips so I felt confident. I made several mistakes in the fact that I didn't defend my blinds and I just gave away the small blind without seeing a flop, who knows what type of hand they had, I was trying to force the smaller stack to push all-in against the other guy, and he did the other guy thought about it for a long time and folded he showed an Ace, and the smaller stack laughed as he flipped over 9 10 off suit. So the next hand I was the big blind and I had 7 8, the big stack called, and the flop came Q 8 K, he checked and I figured he didn't have a K or a Q because he had been playing really tight, so I decided to check with was a big mistake, the next card was a 9 he checked and I immediately went all in for my last 2000 chips. He agonized over calling for a while, then he decided to call and he had a freaking 9, I didn't catch a 7 or an 8 and I was elminated in 3rd.
Overall I am pleased with my play, I think I was the best player at that table, but my passiveness when things were short handed caused me to lose as I see it I made several mistakes:
1. I didn't bet the 8 strong on that last hand and I gave him a free card.
2. I did not defend my blinds, and I gave away way to many free chips.
3. I did not raise from the big blind position enough to push out potential draws.
I will correct these mistakes in the future, I am happy that I know what I am doing wrong it's just a matter of working hard to correct the problems. But I think there is a bigger part of my game that's missing I just haven't put my finger on it yet.
I get there, and I really didn't feel like playing Limit Hold'em or Omaha, so I signed up for one of their $40 satellites to their $240 buy-in tournaments on Sundays. I think playing more live games will be the next level in making my game rise to the next level, because I need to get used to being at the table with people I don't know and reading them while being the life of the table. So I end up waiting about 25 minutes, and then I get called to the table.
I sit down and basically the format is like this, you get 1000 chips and you have to beat 9 other people to win the buy-in, this is the perfect format for me because I play in single table sit n go's all day long. I look at the people at the table to start trying to figure out what I am up against, and I will say this I don't think I am better than anyone else, but I felt confident as I got settled in. One guy was on the phone talking to his friend in Vegas and relaying the information to another friend at our table, another guy had just been eliminated in 9th place from another satellite table and he had signed up for two tables just in case he lost the first one early (which he did). The other players didn't look like they could even calculate pot odds, there was one player who was a little bit younger than me and he looked like he may be the most competition for me.
I start out playing tight for the first few hands to see what the texture of the table is going to be, by the 3rd hand we had lost one player and I hadn't even played a hand yet. Then the guy talking on the phone was in the big blind and everyone folded except 1 guy, the dealer couldn't ask the guy if he wanted to raise because he was standing up, so the dealer dealt the flop, it came J 3 3, the guy in the big blind looked at his cards and bet 100, the young guy raised to 550, then the guy on the phone said you have a 3 don't you bastard, he put him all in and flipped over Pocket Queens, the young guy flipped over K3, then the guy that was on the phone started bitching at the dealer that he never got an option to raise because he would have raised with the Queens, he was eliminated.
Anyway, I was dealt K 10 off suit and was quickly raised by the young guy, the extra satellite guy called him and the flop came Q 6 K, the young guy checked and the other guy bet 300, the young guy raised to 600, and the other guy folded and showed A 6 the young guy showed A Q, I was glad they showed I was able to gather much needed Intel about both players. So I am dealt 10 9 off suit in the Big Blind, there are 4 callers including the small blind the flop comes, 10 10 7, the small blind checks, I check (decided to slow play my 10's) and everyone else checks, the next card is a J, I was hoping for a face card to get some action, the small blind folds(checking is free?), I check again I get a bet of 100 then the young guys calls the 100, then the dealer button bets 200, I raise to 400 everyone goes away except the guy on the button, he just calls. The river card comes and it's an 8, I bet 400 hoping for a call he thinks about it for a long time, then he calls and flips over K J, I show my 10's and take the pot he says "Nice Hand". I basically doubled up on that pot which was a good sign.
My cards started getting hot, I was dealt pocket Aces 3 hands later, and I was one position behind the dealer button, I promptly raised to $225, one guy who had limped got pissed off and said "fine all-in", everyone else folded, I asked him for a chip count it was $575 total I put in the additional amount and flip over my Aces he gets up and leaves without seeing the flop he had A 6 off suit, and he didn't catch anything to beat me.
Several other people get knocked out now we are down to 3 handed poker, which is by far my worst point in tournaments, when it's 3 handed I just don't make good decisions, I was second in chips so I felt confident. I made several mistakes in the fact that I didn't defend my blinds and I just gave away the small blind without seeing a flop, who knows what type of hand they had, I was trying to force the smaller stack to push all-in against the other guy, and he did the other guy thought about it for a long time and folded he showed an Ace, and the smaller stack laughed as he flipped over 9 10 off suit. So the next hand I was the big blind and I had 7 8, the big stack called, and the flop came Q 8 K, he checked and I figured he didn't have a K or a Q because he had been playing really tight, so I decided to check with was a big mistake, the next card was a 9 he checked and I immediately went all in for my last 2000 chips. He agonized over calling for a while, then he decided to call and he had a freaking 9, I didn't catch a 7 or an 8 and I was elminated in 3rd.
Overall I am pleased with my play, I think I was the best player at that table, but my passiveness when things were short handed caused me to lose as I see it I made several mistakes:
1. I didn't bet the 8 strong on that last hand and I gave him a free card.
2. I did not defend my blinds, and I gave away way to many free chips.
3. I did not raise from the big blind position enough to push out potential draws.
I will correct these mistakes in the future, I am happy that I know what I am doing wrong it's just a matter of working hard to correct the problems. But I think there is a bigger part of my game that's missing I just haven't put my finger on it yet.
Monday, July 04, 2005
Vegas Poker Tournaments
Sorry for the delay in updating, but I had to catch up on a lot of school work that is due this week. But as I said in my previous post I would be detailing my poker tournament experience in Las Vegas. I only had the opportunity to play in 2 tournaments while I was there; one at Harrah's and one at The Plaza.
(Harrah's Poker Room Pictured below)
Sorry for the delay in updating, but I had to catch up on a lot of school work that is due this week. But as I said in my previous post I would be detailing my poker tournament experience in Las Vegas. I only had the opportunity to play in 2 tournaments while I was there one at Harrah's and one at The Plaza.
Harrah's - $50.00 Starts at 11:00am daily, 1 Re-Buy, 1 Add-on
Me and several friends went to register for the tournament about 10:00am, we got our seat cards and decided to check out the Buffett at Harrah's. Well, while we are indulging in the buffett I don't realize I made a mistake and thought the tournament started at 12:00pm, so we get done stuffing ourselves at around 11:20am, and make it to the Poker Room about 11:35am and we see people playing, and the poker room manager is like, "We started worrying about you guys, we started 30 minutes ago". I was like opps, so I figure we only missed 30 minutes, it can't be all that bad. Well I sit down, and I notice that I have already been blinded one time, and the blinds are 50/100 already. But something doesn't add up I look at the stacks around the table and they have ranges from 3500 - 5000 in chips while I have a paltry $1500. I then realized that some dufuses just rebought and added on all at the same time, you don't have to be elminated to re-buy for some reason, you can elect to start with a bunch of chips for more money.
Well I decided to sit back the first few hands and watch how this was going to be played, and the very first hand the guy raise to $600, and he gets 3 CALLERS! I guess I shouldn't be surprised being that I play online a lot, but this was wierd that the price of poker was this high early in the tournament. I thought maybe this is an anamoly well next 6 hands were raised to these values $700, $500, $500, $650, $350, and $550. I of course folded all of them, because there is no point in calling a raise that big, you might as well go over the top and go all-in because in my case that's 1/3 to 1/2 of my chips just to see a flop. So, the guy who was the chip leader is the main one raising and he raises to $650 he gets called by a guy who is on the button while the chip leader is small blind. The flop comes AD 7C JH, the chip leader bets $1000, the other guy goes all-in, the chip leader calls and flips over K K, the other guy on the button flips over A 3 and he wins the hand, leaving the chip leader with only about $1000 in chips. Why the hell would the guy call with A 3 of all hands. So, I know right now I am in a tournament with a bunch of people who just watch poker on TV and don't play with any strategy whatsoever. Well the guy who was the chip leader then loses the next hand, and is eliminated, but wait he didn't use his rebuy so he plunks down another $50 and is back in action. I decided to play a hand for the steep price because I had no choice really, and the blinds almost didn't seem to matter because the pot was raised every hand. I was dealt A 7 off suit, and a new guy had just come to the table he was an alternate waiting for someone to get eliminated so he could play, he goes all in on the first hand I call with the A 7, he has me covered because he paid $100 to play and had $2000 chips. He flips over KQ and I flop A 7 5, and that's all I needed I doubled up the only hand I played thus far. Most people would have been happy but I hate playing coin flip poker, it's not really any fun and anyone can play that way. Anyway, I end up busting out in 30th place out of 69 players, I went all in with A 9 and someone had A 10 to bust me, I just couldn't get into the flow of this tournament, and being late to the tournament kind of threw me off a bit, but FDR placed 22nd and Black Dragon came in 17th. Those weren't bad finishes for it being their first tournament besides playing at our usual spot. I had a bad taste in my mouth after that tournament, but I analyzed my play and I realized I adapted to the style that was being played at my table it was a coin flip table and I didn't have chips, so that's all I could really do. I hoped my next tournament experience would be better.
The Plaza - 12:00 pm, 7:00pm, 12:00am daily - $55 - 1500 chips, $60 - 2000 chips, $100 - 3500 chips: 1 Re-Buy, 1 Add-On
AG told me he heard the best tournaments were at The Plaza, and I was determined to play there if I had the chance. The other people that were with me, didn't feel like playing Poker after we checked out Fremont Street, so they went back to the Hotel, and I stayed to play at the 12 am tournament. I went in and registered, and I had to wait an hour before it started, I played a little 3 Card poker while I waited, and I broke even, the funny part is when I was playing a guy sat down to my right, and the next hand that was dealt he made a straight flush, what a bastard I would have hit the straight flush if he didn't sit down, he was milling around doing nothing then out of the blue decides to play and he gets the straight flush I had been waiting patiently for LOL. Anyway the tournament starts, there are 4 tables and several alternates waiting to play, and I notice a difference in the players right away most of these people seem to be locals, while at Harrah's it was mostly people visiting. The game started off good first hand I was dealt A 9 in the small blind and I raised to $125 (I started with 2000 chips btw), I had 1 caller the flop came AC, 9H, 3D I act first and I check, the guy bets 100, I re-raise him to 250 he calls, next card 7C I lead out with a bet of 350 he sits there for a minute and folds. I already had a beat on him from talking to him a little bit before the tournament started he is a tight player and he scares really easily he told me how he laid down pocket Q's preflop because someone raised the pot to big for his comfort. The other players at the table were fairly easy to read except 3 guys, 1 was making huge raises and never had to show his hand, so I couldn't tell if he was bluffing or not. The second guy is one of those players that calls anything and will bet with anything he didnt' seem very good, but stupidity can be a strength sometimes. The last guy varied his play, he seemed very tight at times and very aggresive at others, but he didnt' play a lot of pots, so that worked to my advantage. I had an aggresive player to my right and the guy to my left was tight, but played his hands strong when he had something. Anyway I get dealt rags on the button 8 4 off suit, so I limp in because there were only 2 callers besides the blinds, the small blind goes away and the big blind just checks the flop comes 6C, 5D, JH the big blind checks, the player in 4th position bets 100 (double the big blind), the next player folds and it comes to me, a few months ago I would have folded this hand, but lately I have been attempting to find the reason why guys like Johnny Chan, John Juanda, and others always make it to final tables in tournaments, so I raise the pot to 300, the big blind immediately folds. The other player calls, at this point I am a little nervous but I trained myself to look the same a long time ago so I looked like a rock to that person. The next card is 3S, he leads out with a bet of 100 again, then I realize I forgot to try and put him on a hand, well being that he didn't raise before the flop and just limped he probably has a middle pair 5's - 9's, he didn't have a set IMHO because he did not bet bigger 100 is nothing as far as I was concerned, so I re-raised to 500 this time, I now have 850 invested in the pot entirely too much on a bluff, so he thinks about it for a while and puts me on straight and folds he shows he had 2 pair J's and 6's, he asks me did you have it and I say yep 4 7, boy if he only knew. I have bluffed plenty of times before, but that one I truly thought he was going to catch me, bluffing is a stressful thing that's why I never did it that much. I make it to the first break in great shape 7500 chips, and there are about 24 people left I am in the top 10 in chips. Here is where things messed me up, after the break the blind went from 200/400 to 500/1000, they skipped 300/600 and 400/800, I didn't know this before hand, now all of a sudden my stack doesnt look as good. They re-dealed for the button and I started as big blind, after two hands of folding I lost 1500 chips to blinds, I handn't lost 1500 chips to anything all tournament. Then 3 people were knocked out at my table and we had 5 players for about 15 - 20 minutes the blinds killed me and I went down to about 3500 in chips from blinds. They condensed everyone into 2 tables and just in time too, so a drunk guy was next to me complaining about something, and we were the only two in the pot I was big blind he was small blind, I had A 3 the flop came A, 6, 9 he bets 1000 I call, the next card is a 7 he checks I bet 1000 he folds. He then starts talking about how he hasn't gotten a hand in hours etc...., I tune him out and try to focus on making the final table. I manage to survive for a little while and the tournament is down to 11 people1 from the final table, and everyone is playing super tight, there is a guy at the other table with 500 chips trying to hold on, the blinds are now 600/1200 with a 50 ante and I only have about 4700 chips left, a guy across the table from me looks at his cards he is agonizing about playing them I immediately put him on A baby, or K baby, he reluctantly goes all-in, his exact words were I guess I go all-in. I am looking at pocket 6's, I start thinking what if I had pocket kings would I call yes, Queens yes, Jacks yes, it's all the same either way he has to hit an A to beat me if his other card is lower than a 6, so I call his all-in. He flips over A 10, just like I figured even though I was hoping he had A 5 or lower, the flop comes A, 7, 3 turn 4 river J. So I get eliminated in 11th place, no money, no final table for me, I was a bit bummed but I played well, and I can't complain the fact is was I playing poker to win or playing poker just to place I was trying to win, so I can't be disappointed.
I made a few mistakes in the tournament that I should not have on time, I raised in first position with J 10 and 2 people came over the top of me, I bet $600, and I ended up folding while they both went all-in against each other. Also, several times I didn't keep betting into someone and I won a lot less than I could have. I still have never made a final table in a tournament I have high finishes in several and I have come 1 from the final table 5 times without ever making it. I feel my game is getting better, and I am a single table king I play well when I have to beat 9 other people, if I can just make it to the final table in a tournament I think I can do well. The Plaza tournament was the best I have ever played in, the only thing I didn't like was their tables aren't felt they are some type of polyester material, and the blinds kill you later in the tournament, but other than that The Plaza gets good marks from me.
(Harrah's Poker Room Pictured below)
Sorry for the delay in updating, but I had to catch up on a lot of school work that is due this week. But as I said in my previous post I would be detailing my poker tournament experience in Las Vegas. I only had the opportunity to play in 2 tournaments while I was there one at Harrah's and one at The Plaza.
Harrah's - $50.00 Starts at 11:00am daily, 1 Re-Buy, 1 Add-on
Me and several friends went to register for the tournament about 10:00am, we got our seat cards and decided to check out the Buffett at Harrah's. Well, while we are indulging in the buffett I don't realize I made a mistake and thought the tournament started at 12:00pm, so we get done stuffing ourselves at around 11:20am, and make it to the Poker Room about 11:35am and we see people playing, and the poker room manager is like, "We started worrying about you guys, we started 30 minutes ago". I was like opps, so I figure we only missed 30 minutes, it can't be all that bad. Well I sit down, and I notice that I have already been blinded one time, and the blinds are 50/100 already. But something doesn't add up I look at the stacks around the table and they have ranges from 3500 - 5000 in chips while I have a paltry $1500. I then realized that some dufuses just rebought and added on all at the same time, you don't have to be elminated to re-buy for some reason, you can elect to start with a bunch of chips for more money.
Well I decided to sit back the first few hands and watch how this was going to be played, and the very first hand the guy raise to $600, and he gets 3 CALLERS! I guess I shouldn't be surprised being that I play online a lot, but this was wierd that the price of poker was this high early in the tournament. I thought maybe this is an anamoly well next 6 hands were raised to these values $700, $500, $500, $650, $350, and $550. I of course folded all of them, because there is no point in calling a raise that big, you might as well go over the top and go all-in because in my case that's 1/3 to 1/2 of my chips just to see a flop. So, the guy who was the chip leader is the main one raising and he raises to $650 he gets called by a guy who is on the button while the chip leader is small blind. The flop comes AD 7C JH, the chip leader bets $1000, the other guy goes all-in, the chip leader calls and flips over K K, the other guy on the button flips over A 3 and he wins the hand, leaving the chip leader with only about $1000 in chips. Why the hell would the guy call with A 3 of all hands. So, I know right now I am in a tournament with a bunch of people who just watch poker on TV and don't play with any strategy whatsoever. Well the guy who was the chip leader then loses the next hand, and is eliminated, but wait he didn't use his rebuy so he plunks down another $50 and is back in action. I decided to play a hand for the steep price because I had no choice really, and the blinds almost didn't seem to matter because the pot was raised every hand. I was dealt A 7 off suit, and a new guy had just come to the table he was an alternate waiting for someone to get eliminated so he could play, he goes all in on the first hand I call with the A 7, he has me covered because he paid $100 to play and had $2000 chips. He flips over KQ and I flop A 7 5, and that's all I needed I doubled up the only hand I played thus far. Most people would have been happy but I hate playing coin flip poker, it's not really any fun and anyone can play that way. Anyway, I end up busting out in 30th place out of 69 players, I went all in with A 9 and someone had A 10 to bust me, I just couldn't get into the flow of this tournament, and being late to the tournament kind of threw me off a bit, but FDR placed 22nd and Black Dragon came in 17th. Those weren't bad finishes for it being their first tournament besides playing at our usual spot. I had a bad taste in my mouth after that tournament, but I analyzed my play and I realized I adapted to the style that was being played at my table it was a coin flip table and I didn't have chips, so that's all I could really do. I hoped my next tournament experience would be better.
The Plaza - 12:00 pm, 7:00pm, 12:00am daily - $55 - 1500 chips, $60 - 2000 chips, $100 - 3500 chips: 1 Re-Buy, 1 Add-On
AG told me he heard the best tournaments were at The Plaza, and I was determined to play there if I had the chance. The other people that were with me, didn't feel like playing Poker after we checked out Fremont Street, so they went back to the Hotel, and I stayed to play at the 12 am tournament. I went in and registered, and I had to wait an hour before it started, I played a little 3 Card poker while I waited, and I broke even, the funny part is when I was playing a guy sat down to my right, and the next hand that was dealt he made a straight flush, what a bastard I would have hit the straight flush if he didn't sit down, he was milling around doing nothing then out of the blue decides to play and he gets the straight flush I had been waiting patiently for LOL. Anyway the tournament starts, there are 4 tables and several alternates waiting to play, and I notice a difference in the players right away most of these people seem to be locals, while at Harrah's it was mostly people visiting. The game started off good first hand I was dealt A 9 in the small blind and I raised to $125 (I started with 2000 chips btw), I had 1 caller the flop came AC, 9H, 3D I act first and I check, the guy bets 100, I re-raise him to 250 he calls, next card 7C I lead out with a bet of 350 he sits there for a minute and folds. I already had a beat on him from talking to him a little bit before the tournament started he is a tight player and he scares really easily he told me how he laid down pocket Q's preflop because someone raised the pot to big for his comfort. The other players at the table were fairly easy to read except 3 guys, 1 was making huge raises and never had to show his hand, so I couldn't tell if he was bluffing or not. The second guy is one of those players that calls anything and will bet with anything he didnt' seem very good, but stupidity can be a strength sometimes. The last guy varied his play, he seemed very tight at times and very aggresive at others, but he didnt' play a lot of pots, so that worked to my advantage. I had an aggresive player to my right and the guy to my left was tight, but played his hands strong when he had something. Anyway I get dealt rags on the button 8 4 off suit, so I limp in because there were only 2 callers besides the blinds, the small blind goes away and the big blind just checks the flop comes 6C, 5D, JH the big blind checks, the player in 4th position bets 100 (double the big blind), the next player folds and it comes to me, a few months ago I would have folded this hand, but lately I have been attempting to find the reason why guys like Johnny Chan, John Juanda, and others always make it to final tables in tournaments, so I raise the pot to 300, the big blind immediately folds. The other player calls, at this point I am a little nervous but I trained myself to look the same a long time ago so I looked like a rock to that person. The next card is 3S, he leads out with a bet of 100 again, then I realize I forgot to try and put him on a hand, well being that he didn't raise before the flop and just limped he probably has a middle pair 5's - 9's, he didn't have a set IMHO because he did not bet bigger 100 is nothing as far as I was concerned, so I re-raised to 500 this time, I now have 850 invested in the pot entirely too much on a bluff, so he thinks about it for a while and puts me on straight and folds he shows he had 2 pair J's and 6's, he asks me did you have it and I say yep 4 7, boy if he only knew. I have bluffed plenty of times before, but that one I truly thought he was going to catch me, bluffing is a stressful thing that's why I never did it that much. I make it to the first break in great shape 7500 chips, and there are about 24 people left I am in the top 10 in chips. Here is where things messed me up, after the break the blind went from 200/400 to 500/1000, they skipped 300/600 and 400/800, I didn't know this before hand, now all of a sudden my stack doesnt look as good. They re-dealed for the button and I started as big blind, after two hands of folding I lost 1500 chips to blinds, I handn't lost 1500 chips to anything all tournament. Then 3 people were knocked out at my table and we had 5 players for about 15 - 20 minutes the blinds killed me and I went down to about 3500 in chips from blinds. They condensed everyone into 2 tables and just in time too, so a drunk guy was next to me complaining about something, and we were the only two in the pot I was big blind he was small blind, I had A 3 the flop came A, 6, 9 he bets 1000 I call, the next card is a 7 he checks I bet 1000 he folds. He then starts talking about how he hasn't gotten a hand in hours etc...., I tune him out and try to focus on making the final table. I manage to survive for a little while and the tournament is down to 11 people1 from the final table, and everyone is playing super tight, there is a guy at the other table with 500 chips trying to hold on, the blinds are now 600/1200 with a 50 ante and I only have about 4700 chips left, a guy across the table from me looks at his cards he is agonizing about playing them I immediately put him on A baby, or K baby, he reluctantly goes all-in, his exact words were I guess I go all-in. I am looking at pocket 6's, I start thinking what if I had pocket kings would I call yes, Queens yes, Jacks yes, it's all the same either way he has to hit an A to beat me if his other card is lower than a 6, so I call his all-in. He flips over A 10, just like I figured even though I was hoping he had A 5 or lower, the flop comes A, 7, 3 turn 4 river J. So I get eliminated in 11th place, no money, no final table for me, I was a bit bummed but I played well, and I can't complain the fact is was I playing poker to win or playing poker just to place I was trying to win, so I can't be disappointed.
I made a few mistakes in the tournament that I should not have on time, I raised in first position with J 10 and 2 people came over the top of me, I bet $600, and I ended up folding while they both went all-in against each other. Also, several times I didn't keep betting into someone and I won a lot less than I could have. I still have never made a final table in a tournament I have high finishes in several and I have come 1 from the final table 5 times without ever making it. I feel my game is getting better, and I am a single table king I play well when I have to beat 9 other people, if I can just make it to the final table in a tournament I think I can do well. The Plaza tournament was the best I have ever played in, the only thing I didn't like was their tables aren't felt they are some type of polyester material, and the blinds kill you later in the tournament, but other than that The Plaza gets good marks from me.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Back from Vegas OH yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just came back from Las Vegas on Monday morning, and I had the time of my life it was a much needed vacation. My trip to Las Vegas was for several reasons:
- I have never been before, so I wanted to see what it was like.
- Take a much needed vacation from work.
- Help one of my friends enjoy his last few days of freedom before marriage.
- Test my poker game in a real brick and mortar casino.
You may have noticed a new logo on the top of my site, thanks to my friend Greg from http://www.halloftheblackdragon.com for creating the logo for me.
I didn't play in as many tournaments as I had hoped to play in during my time in Vegas, I was pretty much awake the entire time, and I managed to play in 2 Poker Tournaments among all the buffets, clubs, women, and crappy driving taxi's.
I will make 2 separate posts for the poker tournaments, so that I can get in depth with them I really learned a lot and feel that I came out of it as a better player. Let's say both tournaments were 2 opposite extremes of each other.
I am really anxious to get home tonight to see the WPT Championship, I already konw Tuan Le wins, but the rumor that Habib was dumping chips to Tuan has been rampant for a little while now, so I want to see first hand if I can pickup on it, or if it really happened. John Phan was also at the final table and this guy has made one hell of a push at the WSOP he is currently leading the player of the year standings, I knew he was a good player, but I never thought he would take over the scene this quickly.
I looked up my poker stats on http://www.pokerprophecy.com and it's close to accurate I think they miss some games, but here are the stats as of yesterday:
Player themarksman:
Games played 134
Wins 50 (37.31%) Losses 84 (62.69%)
Average Buy-In $9.07
Players with better winning percentage 168492
Players with worse winning percentage 380218
$150 Table: 1 wins / 0 losses / 100% wins
$20 Table: 1 wins / 2 losses / 33.33% wins
$10 Table: 25 wins / 46 losses / 35.21% wins
$5 Table: 23 wins / 36 losses / 38.98% wins
Much more to come later, I have a lot of posts to catch up on.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Going All-In isn't always the best play
I just like a lot of other poker players out there savor the joy of going all-in, pushing your chips into the pot and watching the outcome is one of the most exciting experiences in this world. But for professionals and competitive Poker players it can be agonizing, cruel, puzzling, and just down right nasty.
As I have played online poker and at Derby Lane recently I have noticed that a lot of players go all-in when the situation doesn't even warrant it. The following scenario illustrates the reason why you don't push your chips in unless absolutely neccesary.
On a sit n' Go online I was dealt A 5 Diamonds, I was chip leader and the big blind at the time, a player acting before me raised the pot to double the big blind. One other player calls, and everyone else folds, the two players have more chips than I do by about $300, so I decide to call since I was already giving money and I had a slightly above average hand, suited, A, and straight possibility. The flop comes 10S, JD, QD, the guy acting first checks and the next guy bets 100, I figure if a king comes it would be a split, and the guy that called had been playing A 3' and 4's, and he was not the original raiser, the orginal raiser folds while typing curse words into the chat box. The next card is a KH, I hit the straight, and I knew he had an A, so I figured we would split the pot. Well Mr. Greedy pushes his chips all in and he has me covered, I guess he figured I had a J, K, or Q, he didn't think for one minute that maybe I was waiting on the A high straight just like him? Well of course I call and he flips over A8 off suit and I flip over my A5 suited diamonds, and the last card is 4 D, so I make an Ace high flush, and I take most of his chips.
I know he was thinking either I won or I get a split, that's why he pushed hoping maybe I would fold, well a bet of 250 or 350 would have been just as good in his case, instead he didn't cash because he was too careless, that's why reading the board is important.
That illustrates my point to the letter, I pick and choose my all-ins if it isn't neccesary I am not going to do it in a spot where a big bet can accomplish the same thing, and that's a big mistake a lot of people make they go all-in putting extra chips at risk for no need. If the person has a much smaller stack than you then it's ok to press that button, but if you are in a pot with a person who has close to the same amount or more just bet big instead.
I am not trying to tell anyone how to play their game, it's ultimately up to the player, but people that do that is one of the ways I build my stack, so I hope people will keep doing it no matter how annnoying it is, but anyone aspiring to win consistently may want to think about the situation and calculate the risks before doing anything especially pushing all your chips to the middle of the Green Felt.
As I have played online poker and at Derby Lane recently I have noticed that a lot of players go all-in when the situation doesn't even warrant it. The following scenario illustrates the reason why you don't push your chips in unless absolutely neccesary.
On a sit n' Go online I was dealt A 5 Diamonds, I was chip leader and the big blind at the time, a player acting before me raised the pot to double the big blind. One other player calls, and everyone else folds, the two players have more chips than I do by about $300, so I decide to call since I was already giving money and I had a slightly above average hand, suited, A, and straight possibility. The flop comes 10S, JD, QD, the guy acting first checks and the next guy bets 100, I figure if a king comes it would be a split, and the guy that called had been playing A 3' and 4's, and he was not the original raiser, the orginal raiser folds while typing curse words into the chat box. The next card is a KH, I hit the straight, and I knew he had an A, so I figured we would split the pot. Well Mr. Greedy pushes his chips all in and he has me covered, I guess he figured I had a J, K, or Q, he didn't think for one minute that maybe I was waiting on the A high straight just like him? Well of course I call and he flips over A8 off suit and I flip over my A5 suited diamonds, and the last card is 4 D, so I make an Ace high flush, and I take most of his chips.
I know he was thinking either I won or I get a split, that's why he pushed hoping maybe I would fold, well a bet of 250 or 350 would have been just as good in his case, instead he didn't cash because he was too careless, that's why reading the board is important.
That illustrates my point to the letter, I pick and choose my all-ins if it isn't neccesary I am not going to do it in a spot where a big bet can accomplish the same thing, and that's a big mistake a lot of people make they go all-in putting extra chips at risk for no need. If the person has a much smaller stack than you then it's ok to press that button, but if you are in a pot with a person who has close to the same amount or more just bet big instead.
I am not trying to tell anyone how to play their game, it's ultimately up to the player, but people that do that is one of the ways I build my stack, so I hope people will keep doing it no matter how annnoying it is, but anyone aspiring to win consistently may want to think about the situation and calculate the risks before doing anything especially pushing all your chips to the middle of the Green Felt.
Retiring of "The Gimp"
Those that play with me know who "The Gimp", I am retiring the name I just need to come up with something new to call him. Wait I got I will call him "FDR" like the president because he usually has a good table presence.
I have much respect for FDR he has improved his poker game, and I think right now he plays at a good level, to compare him to myself I think I am more consistent at day in day out poker, but he always show up for the big tourneys, the ones that really count, and that's saying something. If I had to characterize his strengths and weaknesses they would be as follows:
Strengths:
Fearless
Not scared to bully people at the table
Bluffing to accumulate chips
Plays hands strong
Makes Good Decisions
Doesn't care who's in the hand, plays his cards and what he has
Weaknesses:
Doesn't play the position game
Doesn't do a lot of player analysis
Doesn't read the board properly at times
Lack of experience against people he doesn't know
We are going to Vegas in the next few days and I plan on playing in a few poker tournaments while I am out there, I am sure FDR will play as well, so it's going to be interesting to see how he does out there. If he can do well against people he doesn't know then he can take his game to a high level, I am almost his polar opposite I play a little more tight to the vest and I pick my spots I am trying to emulate a Dan Harrington style of poker with a little bit of Daniel Negreanu and Gus Hansen mixed in. If I can accomplish that it will make me hard to read, and you will never know what I have, I think FDR plays kind of like a Carlos Mortensen, but not as aggressive. FDR is playing great based on the fact that he hasn't been playing that long, he has picked up the game quickly and has a lot of potential.
One thing I can say about everyone I play poker with regularly is, we have probably given AG a nice spectrum of players to get him ready for the WSOP I would say the people we play with provide a tough final table IMHO, and I can attest to that fact because I started winning more once I started playing with these people often, and it's not just the game it's everything hearing people talk about poker and different strategies you can't help but to pickup information while you are there. It has translated into positive $$$ nothing really high stakes yet, but hopefully soon.
I have much respect for FDR he has improved his poker game, and I think right now he plays at a good level, to compare him to myself I think I am more consistent at day in day out poker, but he always show up for the big tourneys, the ones that really count, and that's saying something. If I had to characterize his strengths and weaknesses they would be as follows:
Strengths:
Fearless
Not scared to bully people at the table
Bluffing to accumulate chips
Plays hands strong
Makes Good Decisions
Doesn't care who's in the hand, plays his cards and what he has
Weaknesses:
Doesn't play the position game
Doesn't do a lot of player analysis
Doesn't read the board properly at times
Lack of experience against people he doesn't know
We are going to Vegas in the next few days and I plan on playing in a few poker tournaments while I am out there, I am sure FDR will play as well, so it's going to be interesting to see how he does out there. If he can do well against people he doesn't know then he can take his game to a high level, I am almost his polar opposite I play a little more tight to the vest and I pick my spots I am trying to emulate a Dan Harrington style of poker with a little bit of Daniel Negreanu and Gus Hansen mixed in. If I can accomplish that it will make me hard to read, and you will never know what I have, I think FDR plays kind of like a Carlos Mortensen, but not as aggressive. FDR is playing great based on the fact that he hasn't been playing that long, he has picked up the game quickly and has a lot of potential.
One thing I can say about everyone I play poker with regularly is, we have probably given AG a nice spectrum of players to get him ready for the WSOP I would say the people we play with provide a tough final table IMHO, and I can attest to that fact because I started winning more once I started playing with these people often, and it's not just the game it's everything hearing people talk about poker and different strategies you can't help but to pickup information while you are there. It has translated into positive $$$ nothing really high stakes yet, but hopefully soon.
6/18/2005 - Poker Activity
Saturday an impromptu tournament was held over at the Banea School of Poker, and I was looking forward to it because I had been on a run of bad luck/bad playing lately, and when I was winning it wasn't worth the hour or so I spent to get it.
There were a few new faces there this time, along with some familiar ones. The funny thing is a no drinking mandate was placed on the environment, and someone showed up with beer, so it was kind of funny that he hadn't checked his email, and he had no clue, and he looked so ready to get wasted. Well I guess that ensured the streak was going to be broken of the drunk guy winning the big tournaments (LOL).
I felt confident considering my recent play, and I actually won a hand early with a pair of Jacks really wasn't much to the hand kind of boring at early levels, there was an Ace on the board and that limited my aggresiveness a little. One of AG's friends showed up who had played in the Party Poker Million Tournament, and most consider him a semi-pro, so I was interested to see how good he was.
I messed up on an early hand I raised before the flop with KQ offsuit, and I was called by the chip leader who had been on a hot streak making unbeleivable hands like a few wins with Q3 which he calls his lucky hand. Everyone else goes away, and the flop comes 8 K 5, so I am feeling fairly good about the raise wondering what Mark has on the other side of the table. He comes out with a bet of $150, which kind of throws me off a bit and he wasn't even hesitant about it, so I decide to see how serious he is about playing this hand and I raise to $500 total which he calls immediately. The next card is a 4, and he customizes a bet to put me all-in, these are the type of hands I have a hard time with, my thought process goes like this, he called a raise before the flop and he wasn't one of the blinds, this usually means big cards or a decent sized pocket pair, he is confident enough in his hand that my raise was like nothing to him, and he was anxious to push all-in. So I am thinking he has AK, 2-pair (doubt it), or a pocket pair that he made a set with. Either way I think he had me beat, so I give up the hand, what usually happens to me in those type of hands is I would call the all in and get blindsided by the set, this time I decided to make my stand later.
That hand somewhat handcuffed me as I was down to $1000 chips and just about every hand was raised so playing drawing hands or junk was going to be difficult. After folding a bunch of hands I made it to the final table, with about $700 chips as I didn't play that many hands, I look at AG's stack and he has a huge stack of chips and here I am still wondering how to accumulate so many chips, so you can have some bullets to play in a tournament. One of the first hands I get at the final table is A 10 suited, I figured I might as well make my stand with this. AG calls my all-in along with one other player, a 10 comes on the flop and they don't make their hands and I triple up. Then "The Gimp" goes out who was breathing down my neck in the points race at the time, "The Bat" went out as well so now I am feeling I can take advantage of that fact because The Bat always over bets his hand, and The Gimp won't let you see any cards for cheap if he has a piece of the board, so with both of them gone I figured I would be able to see a few more hands because AG is all over the place and unpredictable, so you have to deal with him on a hand by hand basis.
I am big blind at $400 and I am dealt K J, not a bad starting hand and Brian raises the pot to $1000, and everyone else folds and it comes to me. This is where I always screw myself in tournaments 1 mistake kills all the good I may have done up until that point like that time I raised AG at Derby trying to steal the blinds and he came back over the top. Well me not thinking the hand through and for some reason being a bit defensive of my blinds, re-raises him and put him all-in he calls and flips over AK, the funny thing I suspected that's what he has, Brian is a guy that places tight to the vest until he gets paint then he hopes the flop is favorable or he just goes all-in. I knew this, I had information available to me and I didn't use it, and of course I didn't catch a J and I was eliminated. Bad play on my part, and that's my biggest problem I have 1 lapse where I ignore all logic and warning signs and I lose all my chips or most of them.
AG went on to win, he beat Sue in a long heads up match, I hope the guy does well at the WSOP that will hammer home the fact that anyone can truly make it if you put in the work.
We played another tournament afterwards, and The Gimp came in second to pass me in points, he always does well in the big tournaments. How I was eliminated from this one, is kind of crazy I was dealt QQ, Ken was acting before me and he goes all in, I call then The Bat calls right behind me I flip over my ladies and The Bat flips over AK, Ken flips over K 10 I am feeling good because they both have a king with means they are sharing outs, well 2 kings come to give both of them a set of kings, and I end up dealing the rest of the night.
After watching the semi-pro play, I am convinced of a few things:
* I don't think he's better than AG
* I have to give him respect though he made it to the WPT and placed that says a lot
* Bluffing only works if you identify the players at your table
Seriously I don't think he realized the amount of loose aggresive players like Jackal and Jackal Jr., The Bat, and The Gimp you will have a hard time bluffing them out of a pot most of the time, and he tried to and they busted him. He is a solid player, but I wonder how good he is at reading players. It's hard to rate someones game after only playing 2 games with them, these are just preliminary observances.
There were a few new faces there this time, along with some familiar ones. The funny thing is a no drinking mandate was placed on the environment, and someone showed up with beer, so it was kind of funny that he hadn't checked his email, and he had no clue, and he looked so ready to get wasted. Well I guess that ensured the streak was going to be broken of the drunk guy winning the big tournaments (LOL).
I felt confident considering my recent play, and I actually won a hand early with a pair of Jacks really wasn't much to the hand kind of boring at early levels, there was an Ace on the board and that limited my aggresiveness a little. One of AG's friends showed up who had played in the Party Poker Million Tournament, and most consider him a semi-pro, so I was interested to see how good he was.
I messed up on an early hand I raised before the flop with KQ offsuit, and I was called by the chip leader who had been on a hot streak making unbeleivable hands like a few wins with Q3 which he calls his lucky hand. Everyone else goes away, and the flop comes 8 K 5, so I am feeling fairly good about the raise wondering what Mark has on the other side of the table. He comes out with a bet of $150, which kind of throws me off a bit and he wasn't even hesitant about it, so I decide to see how serious he is about playing this hand and I raise to $500 total which he calls immediately. The next card is a 4, and he customizes a bet to put me all-in, these are the type of hands I have a hard time with, my thought process goes like this, he called a raise before the flop and he wasn't one of the blinds, this usually means big cards or a decent sized pocket pair, he is confident enough in his hand that my raise was like nothing to him, and he was anxious to push all-in. So I am thinking he has AK, 2-pair (doubt it), or a pocket pair that he made a set with. Either way I think he had me beat, so I give up the hand, what usually happens to me in those type of hands is I would call the all in and get blindsided by the set, this time I decided to make my stand later.
That hand somewhat handcuffed me as I was down to $1000 chips and just about every hand was raised so playing drawing hands or junk was going to be difficult. After folding a bunch of hands I made it to the final table, with about $700 chips as I didn't play that many hands, I look at AG's stack and he has a huge stack of chips and here I am still wondering how to accumulate so many chips, so you can have some bullets to play in a tournament. One of the first hands I get at the final table is A 10 suited, I figured I might as well make my stand with this. AG calls my all-in along with one other player, a 10 comes on the flop and they don't make their hands and I triple up. Then "The Gimp" goes out who was breathing down my neck in the points race at the time, "The Bat" went out as well so now I am feeling I can take advantage of that fact because The Bat always over bets his hand, and The Gimp won't let you see any cards for cheap if he has a piece of the board, so with both of them gone I figured I would be able to see a few more hands because AG is all over the place and unpredictable, so you have to deal with him on a hand by hand basis.
I am big blind at $400 and I am dealt K J, not a bad starting hand and Brian raises the pot to $1000, and everyone else folds and it comes to me. This is where I always screw myself in tournaments 1 mistake kills all the good I may have done up until that point like that time I raised AG at Derby trying to steal the blinds and he came back over the top. Well me not thinking the hand through and for some reason being a bit defensive of my blinds, re-raises him and put him all-in he calls and flips over AK, the funny thing I suspected that's what he has, Brian is a guy that places tight to the vest until he gets paint then he hopes the flop is favorable or he just goes all-in. I knew this, I had information available to me and I didn't use it, and of course I didn't catch a J and I was eliminated. Bad play on my part, and that's my biggest problem I have 1 lapse where I ignore all logic and warning signs and I lose all my chips or most of them.
AG went on to win, he beat Sue in a long heads up match, I hope the guy does well at the WSOP that will hammer home the fact that anyone can truly make it if you put in the work.
We played another tournament afterwards, and The Gimp came in second to pass me in points, he always does well in the big tournaments. How I was eliminated from this one, is kind of crazy I was dealt QQ, Ken was acting before me and he goes all in, I call then The Bat calls right behind me I flip over my ladies and The Bat flips over AK, Ken flips over K 10 I am feeling good because they both have a king with means they are sharing outs, well 2 kings come to give both of them a set of kings, and I end up dealing the rest of the night.
After watching the semi-pro play, I am convinced of a few things:
* I don't think he's better than AG
* I have to give him respect though he made it to the WPT and placed that says a lot
* Bluffing only works if you identify the players at your table
Seriously I don't think he realized the amount of loose aggresive players like Jackal and Jackal Jr., The Bat, and The Gimp you will have a hard time bluffing them out of a pot most of the time, and he tried to and they busted him. He is a solid player, but I wonder how good he is at reading players. It's hard to rate someones game after only playing 2 games with them, these are just preliminary observances.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Solid Play doesn't always equal a win
I went to play at my favorite spot last night the Banea School of Poker, I haven't played over there in a while because of school, work, gym, and all other parts of life. It is a welcome change playing with real people instead of online with the crazies on party poker and ultimate bet. One of the Banea clan qualified for the WSOP main event, and I am more excited about it than he probably is lol. Making the WSOP probably isn't that big of a deal, but hell it's a dream of mine making it to the WSOP or WPT, and he is living it.
Last night I inserted the changes to my game that I picked up from reading a few comments from Doyle Brunson, and Daniel Negraneu (sp?). I try to scour the internet for information to help me figure out what I was doing wrong, so that I could break out of this losing streak I was in. After most of the articles I found I really wasn't playing as bad as I thought I was; there were a few things I picked up on from my research that I was doing wrong:
Last night I inserted the changes to my game that I picked up from reading a few comments from Doyle Brunson, and Daniel Negraneu (sp?). I try to scour the internet for information to help me figure out what I was doing wrong, so that I could break out of this losing streak I was in. After most of the articles I found I really wasn't playing as bad as I thought I was; there were a few things I picked up on from my research that I was doing wrong:
- I was going all in during situations when it wasn't neccesary even though I felt I had the nuts, and as a result I would run into the bad luck of someone catching an unbelievable hand like the 3 games in a row I was eliminated by 4 of a kind when I had a full house.
- If someone is determined to chase a flush draw there isn't much you can do about it except bet, and if they hit it just get away from the hand if you put them on the flush.
- Going all-in is a last resort, your not going to win the tournament or table during the first two rounds of blinds, try not to go all in if you don't have too.
All those tips were right on, and it made me realize I wasn't playing badly I was running into monsters and getting eliminated, instead if I bet big and just lost a big pot, I was still in it and had a chance to come back.
On to last nights action I started out playing disciplined and being patient, I folded a lot getting a read on everyone at the table and luckily some of the more aggressive players were acting before me, so it was the perfect position for me. After folding and winning one or two modest sized pots with my new found aggressive play, I hit a run of cards never before seen in the history of poker, I received all the hands in a row:
QQ, KK, AJ, AQ, QQ, AJ, AA, 22
Needless to say I played the first pair of Queens aggressively and won a nice sized pot, I raised 3 times the big blind with the kings and stole the blinds plus one person's call. The AJ I limped in with it, and my pair of jacks lost to a pair of kings, I stole the blinds with the AQ by betting double the big blind. This next hand I misplayed, I was on the button and everyone folded before me I figured at most the big blind and small blind would play, so it would be 3-handed. Well, they both came into the pot, the flop came 6, 4, 9 and Daniel (The Bat) puts out a bet double the big blind of $300, so I am thinking this guy is either bluffing or over betting his small pair (a typical practice of The Bat), so I raise to $600, and he goes all-in which was only $125 more for him, so of course I call. He flips his cards over and he has two pair 6 4, I didn't catch a queen and he won the pot. I was a little pissed at myself because I didn't raise but I was hoping one of them had a pair smaller than a queen and would go all int, I just didn't count on two pair. The AJ hand I raised and was called by 3 people, we all checked it down to the river then, one of the sisters bets $300, I have a jack which 2nd pair at the time and I am looking at the board and there is a straight draw out there if someone has AQ or Q9 then they would have made their straight. I look over at her and she is trying to keep a straight face and bursts out laughing, then she says "I hate when I get busted on the river.", so I take out enough chips to double her bet and I stare her down, and I just thought through the hand and I put her on the AQ and I figured she had the straight, so I fold, and the Bat's girl called the bet (I put her on a K early in the hand because she bet 300 when the flop was K J 7, she doesn't usually bluff from my experience). Well Barb did hit the straight with Q9, I put her on the wrong hand, but I knews I was beat anyway.
The next hand AA, the holy grail of poker starting hands, I raise the pot so to eliminate any draws, and Christina calls me quickly, so I start thinking she must have a nice hand to call a decent sized raise with the blinds this big. The flop comes 3 6 8 all hearts, so she acts first and bets $300, now I am perplexed a little she called a raise and then all low cards came out, but she doesn't really bluff, so I am thinking pockets, but what size, so I just call because of the potential flush and maybe a set is out there. The turn is an 8 of clubs, she just checks, so I check behind her then the river is another heart and she bets $700, I knew she had made her hand but I just had to call to see what she hand and it was Pocket Q's one of them a heart. I realized then there was nothing I could do to take that hand from her, she was going to be the Queens and she probably would have called any all in, the only thing I could have done was fold and save some chips, but you will never learn if you don't try. I was eliminated with the pocket 2's because I was stinging from the last 2 hands and I went all in, Christina called with Q7 and hit a Queen on the turn.
Overall I don't think I played that bad, but I ran into a little bit of bad luck and I misplayed my hands in a few spots, but overall it's not bad. I went home and got 2nd place in a $5.00 sit 'n' go on Party Poker, so it was an ok day. I am just ready for Vegas.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Almost made it
For the longest time I have been sitting on my freeroll entry into Party Poker's Mini Step 4, since my game had taken a turn for the worst I decided I was going to wait until I felt, I was back playing stable again. Well after another night of losing, I decided what the hell I might as well take my free roll, if I get in the top 2 at this table then I move on to mini step 5 where the grand prize is $2000.00 and the top 5 places pay out at that table which would mean easy cash in the long run.
I had hit rock bottom in my game, and for some reason I have an ability to rise to the occasion when it really counts, I can lose $5.00 sit and go tournaments all day long and not care much, but when the big money is on the line or it's an important satellite I rise to the occasion. My strategy for these mini step tournaments is almost foolproof, the first thing you should do is go on party poker's website and look at how the placing works. At this particular table, the top 2 received an entry into the next level places 2 - 5 got a entry into the same level, I didn't care much after that I always aim to get in the top 5 then I open my game up. The reason being dropping down to mini-step 3 would suck, but dropping all the way back down to mini-step 1 would suck even worse. It's like climbing up 1000 stairs one at a time, and then almost getting to the top and falling down, I played some tough games to get this far and I am not about to blow it now.
So, I let all the knuckle heads go out early and I started playing when there were 7 people left taking advantage of my tight playing early I stole some pots by betting big because no one had any clue how I played, and none of them could put me on anything especially since I didn't raise before the flop on a lot of them. As always it turned into a grind out match when there were 6 people left because no one wanted to be the guy busted down a level, I had a healthy chip stack so I knew it wasn't going to be me.
It was down to 4 people and I was the lowest and 15 minutes later I was chip leader with 3 people left. One hand that I might have misplayed is I was dealt Q 10 diamonds the dealer button folded I was small blind I limped in with another 250, the big blind then goes all in over top of me, which kind of gets on my nerves all these people want to make it coin flip city when it gets late in the game, instead of seeing a flop and playing poker like it was meant to be played. Playing coin flips leaves it up to luck and not skill or strategy, so I folded the hand but I was sure that the guy didn't have anything it was a 50 50 hand either way. Then I was deal A Q of spades and one of the guys went all in I called he had jacks and I got nothing, and he doubled up and I was then the short stack at the table. Ultimately I went all in and got called by a horrible hand and the "LUCK" of internet poker let the dufus catch running 3's to beat me. Oh well I guess I will try again, but I know I was the best player at that table it just wasn't my day to win.
I had hit rock bottom in my game, and for some reason I have an ability to rise to the occasion when it really counts, I can lose $5.00 sit and go tournaments all day long and not care much, but when the big money is on the line or it's an important satellite I rise to the occasion. My strategy for these mini step tournaments is almost foolproof, the first thing you should do is go on party poker's website and look at how the placing works. At this particular table, the top 2 received an entry into the next level places 2 - 5 got a entry into the same level, I didn't care much after that I always aim to get in the top 5 then I open my game up. The reason being dropping down to mini-step 3 would suck, but dropping all the way back down to mini-step 1 would suck even worse. It's like climbing up 1000 stairs one at a time, and then almost getting to the top and falling down, I played some tough games to get this far and I am not about to blow it now.
So, I let all the knuckle heads go out early and I started playing when there were 7 people left taking advantage of my tight playing early I stole some pots by betting big because no one had any clue how I played, and none of them could put me on anything especially since I didn't raise before the flop on a lot of them. As always it turned into a grind out match when there were 6 people left because no one wanted to be the guy busted down a level, I had a healthy chip stack so I knew it wasn't going to be me.
It was down to 4 people and I was the lowest and 15 minutes later I was chip leader with 3 people left. One hand that I might have misplayed is I was dealt Q 10 diamonds the dealer button folded I was small blind I limped in with another 250, the big blind then goes all in over top of me, which kind of gets on my nerves all these people want to make it coin flip city when it gets late in the game, instead of seeing a flop and playing poker like it was meant to be played. Playing coin flips leaves it up to luck and not skill or strategy, so I folded the hand but I was sure that the guy didn't have anything it was a 50 50 hand either way. Then I was deal A Q of spades and one of the guys went all in I called he had jacks and I got nothing, and he doubled up and I was then the short stack at the table. Ultimately I went all in and got called by a horrible hand and the "LUCK" of internet poker let the dufus catch running 3's to beat me. Oh well I guess I will try again, but I know I was the best player at that table it just wasn't my day to win.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Time to make some changes
My sister got married this past weekend, and when I was out of town I played some poker at my Brother's house on my laptop to pass the dead time. Well that probably wasn't the best idea. Because I have learned a very important fact about me and poker, I can't play poker and do anything else if I want to win. I played 5 - 10 Sit and Go's on Party Poker, and I lost about 80 - 90% of them and I put a serious dent in my bankroll, for the first time in 4 months or so I had to re-deposit into my account so I can continue to play at decent sized buy-in tables.
So last night I played a few games when I got back in town, and I came in 3rd 3 times which is ok but not really the type of finishes I am looking for. So I finally decied to use my account on Ultimatebet.com and I deposited some cash in there, I played very low stakes to get used to the interface, and I lost the first 3 tables I played at, but once I got used to it I have placed 2nd at the last 3 tables I played it. I am liking Ultimate Bet so far you don't seem to get as many bad beats as you do on Party Poker. We will see how it goes.
One thing I need to remember is when I play Poker I need to only play poker and nothing else, otherwise I will make a big mistake and probably won't win. I usually pick up on how the other players play, and that enables me to make better plays.
So last night I played a few games when I got back in town, and I came in 3rd 3 times which is ok but not really the type of finishes I am looking for. So I finally decied to use my account on Ultimatebet.com and I deposited some cash in there, I played very low stakes to get used to the interface, and I lost the first 3 tables I played at, but once I got used to it I have placed 2nd at the last 3 tables I played it. I am liking Ultimate Bet so far you don't seem to get as many bad beats as you do on Party Poker. We will see how it goes.
One thing I need to remember is when I play Poker I need to only play poker and nothing else, otherwise I will make a big mistake and probably won't win. I usually pick up on how the other players play, and that enables me to make better plays.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
It's been a rough past few days
I took some time of from poker to partake in enjoying Star Wars Episode III and all the hoopla that comes along with it. I was playing ok before I took a break, but when I came off of the break and started back playing Sit and Go's I discovered something. Either I severely diminished in skills, or everyone on Party Poker $10.00 tables got 1000 times better.
What I started to discover is my strategy of relying on 2 or 3 people going out fairly early would not work anymore, everyone is playing tight there were a lot of tables where we went 4 or 5 levels deep into the blinds and all 10 players were still at the table. I don't really have a problem with this, but it only worsens the problem of "coin flip" hell by the time you get deep into the blind levels. I end up getting every hand raised because of all ins and you can't fold forever, even with a good hand you are bound to get a bad beat.
These latest developments saw my bankroll drop by about 70%, one day I lost about 40% of my bankroll, and I went into a $2/$4 limit hold em cash game and won 120% of it back. I then worked on modifying my strategy in the sit and go's I raised the aggresiveness of my game, and I was seeing some success. But then the bad luck bug hit I was playing on 2 sit and go tables at once and my ISP decided to conduct "maintanence" and they took my line down for 6 hours, so that was money I couldn't get back. So I was highly pissed then, at my job I have 1 day out of the week where I sit in a room and monitor equipment all day, so I usually play poker during that time, but unfortunately while I was currently in 4th place with a decent amount of chips at 2 sit and go tables something decided to break, and I had to abandon the game and hope my avatar could survive till the money well he didn't, that was more money I was out of. So I am a bit pissed but I didn't finish first place in 2 sit and gos yesterday, so maybe things are looking up.
What I started to discover is my strategy of relying on 2 or 3 people going out fairly early would not work anymore, everyone is playing tight there were a lot of tables where we went 4 or 5 levels deep into the blinds and all 10 players were still at the table. I don't really have a problem with this, but it only worsens the problem of "coin flip" hell by the time you get deep into the blind levels. I end up getting every hand raised because of all ins and you can't fold forever, even with a good hand you are bound to get a bad beat.
These latest developments saw my bankroll drop by about 70%, one day I lost about 40% of my bankroll, and I went into a $2/$4 limit hold em cash game and won 120% of it back. I then worked on modifying my strategy in the sit and go's I raised the aggresiveness of my game, and I was seeing some success. But then the bad luck bug hit I was playing on 2 sit and go tables at once and my ISP decided to conduct "maintanence" and they took my line down for 6 hours, so that was money I couldn't get back. So I was highly pissed then, at my job I have 1 day out of the week where I sit in a room and monitor equipment all day, so I usually play poker during that time, but unfortunately while I was currently in 4th place with a decent amount of chips at 2 sit and go tables something decided to break, and I had to abandon the game and hope my avatar could survive till the money well he didn't, that was more money I was out of. So I am a bit pissed but I didn't finish first place in 2 sit and gos yesterday, so maybe things are looking up.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Poker Activity 5/17 - SNG's, Party Poker.com $50 + $5 No Limit Hold 'em Tournament
Yesterday was a wierd day for poker, I played in about 8 $10 sit and go tournaments on Party Poker, I placed 1st & 2nd in the first 2 that I played, but then I went on an 8 game losing streak what made it worse was that I finished 1 spot out of the money in 5 of those tournaments, very frustrating.
I played in one of party poker.com's daily $50 + $5 NL Hold 'em tournaments last night, my first time playing in one of these was about 2 weeks ago. There were 1780 people playing last time, and I placed 47th, this time I like the field much better because there were only 690 players this time. Well last time the problem I had was I could never get ove 6000 in chips, and I was hoping to change that fortune in this tournament. I wanted to play kind of loose early to build up a stack, and I almost sabatoged everything before the tournament really got started. A player raised all in before me and I had AK sitting in my hand, I really think a lot of people over play AK thinking it's going to hit everytime or something. Well I decided to call which mean that if I didn't win the hand I would have only had 70 chips left. He had pocket 5's and I hit my K on the river to eliminate him, after that I buckled down and played disciplened. I made solid plays throughout the tournament, I slow played, bet aggressively, and bluffed one or twice to amass almost 17,000 in chips. Here is a picture below of me playing, the top 70 got paid in this tourney BTW at the time I took this screenshot I was 7 from the money at the time.
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I was really looking forward to cashing big in this tournament, but I made a bonehead mistake I called with a marginal hand 10 9, and a spade flush came on the flop. I didn't have a spade flush but I had an open ended staight draw, and top pair I bet the size of the big blind as a feeler bet and everyone went away exept one person who just called my bet with no raise. The turn came with no help and I bet he called, so I figured he was chasing the same straight I was, so on the river I bet and he re-raised me I decided to call because I had made my straight, but I figured he had the same one. Well he had a flush since the flop and was slow playing me, I lost 70% of my chips in that hand. Then 5 hands later I was out becaue the blinds were 1k - 2k. I ended up finishing in 37th place getting about a $200.00 payout which isn't bad even though I felt I was destined for more. That just proves you have to stay disciplined and pay attention to each hand I was watching Star Wars Episode I at the time which was a big mistake on my part, here is a fee tip while you are playing poker only focus on poker, pay attention to the people in the hand how much they bet, what hands they won/lost with etc...
I am probably going to start playing in those on a weekly basis.
I played in one of party poker.com's daily $50 + $5 NL Hold 'em tournaments last night, my first time playing in one of these was about 2 weeks ago. There were 1780 people playing last time, and I placed 47th, this time I like the field much better because there were only 690 players this time. Well last time the problem I had was I could never get ove 6000 in chips, and I was hoping to change that fortune in this tournament. I wanted to play kind of loose early to build up a stack, and I almost sabatoged everything before the tournament really got started. A player raised all in before me and I had AK sitting in my hand, I really think a lot of people over play AK thinking it's going to hit everytime or something. Well I decided to call which mean that if I didn't win the hand I would have only had 70 chips left. He had pocket 5's and I hit my K on the river to eliminate him, after that I buckled down and played disciplened. I made solid plays throughout the tournament, I slow played, bet aggressively, and bluffed one or twice to amass almost 17,000 in chips. Here is a picture below of me playing, the top 70 got paid in this tourney BTW at the time I took this screenshot I was 7 from the money at the time.
.I was really looking forward to cashing big in this tournament, but I made a bonehead mistake I called with a marginal hand 10 9, and a spade flush came on the flop. I didn't have a spade flush but I had an open ended staight draw, and top pair I bet the size of the big blind as a feeler bet and everyone went away exept one person who just called my bet with no raise. The turn came with no help and I bet he called, so I figured he was chasing the same straight I was, so on the river I bet and he re-raised me I decided to call because I had made my straight, but I figured he had the same one. Well he had a flush since the flop and was slow playing me, I lost 70% of my chips in that hand. Then 5 hands later I was out becaue the blinds were 1k - 2k. I ended up finishing in 37th place getting about a $200.00 payout which isn't bad even though I felt I was destined for more. That just proves you have to stay disciplined and pay attention to each hand I was watching Star Wars Episode I at the time which was a big mistake on my part, here is a fee tip while you are playing poker only focus on poker, pay attention to the people in the hand how much they bet, what hands they won/lost with etc...
I am probably going to start playing in those on a weekly basis.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Recap of the Banea Invitational 5/14/2005
I played in the Banea Invitational Saturday, if you continue to read this blog you will hear a lot about the Banea's. They are the people who have helped my poker game the most the past few years, and I am really good friends with them. I play a house game there with them several times a week, we keep a running points system for the player of the year race. Going into this tournament I was the top ranked non-family member point wise. The person right behind me was fairly close I had recently passed him in points and he was playing in the tournament so I wanted to make sure I put on my "A" game.
I started out well, couldn't accumulate chips the table was tough everyone who had any type of hand raised 5 - 8 times the big blind and you can't call those type of raises with garbage. I was hanging in there, and 2 entire tables went out, so I felt good. The rest of the tables were condensed to fill them up, and a new guy who was a bit drunk came to our table. Very first hand I am small blind he is big blind everyone folds I call, he raises 3 times the big blind. I have K 10 in my hand and I decided to call, the flop comes 3C KH 2C. I decide to teach this fool a lesson and I go all in he calls and flips over 5C 5H. He gets two running clubs to eliminate me and make a one card flush, then he proceeds to apologize for the rest of the night. Bad Beats happen, but the funny thing is he put a bad beat on another player and he just folded the rest of the night and he won the tournament with another bad beat. The worse part about it is, he got upset with the tournament director for racing off his chips he was yelling, "what are you doing with my chips?". Then he didn't understand the blinds and antes in heads up play, this proves you can get lucky and win a tournament.
Well after the main tournament was over they had a turbo tournament, which I won I felt kind of bad because I put a bad beat on a guy he was short stacked and I was chip leader he went all in for $925, I was big blind at $800.00 so I called the $125 he flips over A8 and I flip over my K9 the flop comes 9 K 9 to make my full house and eliminate him. But at the end like most tournaments its a coin flip, I won and regained the non-Banea point lead.
I started out well, couldn't accumulate chips the table was tough everyone who had any type of hand raised 5 - 8 times the big blind and you can't call those type of raises with garbage. I was hanging in there, and 2 entire tables went out, so I felt good. The rest of the tables were condensed to fill them up, and a new guy who was a bit drunk came to our table. Very first hand I am small blind he is big blind everyone folds I call, he raises 3 times the big blind. I have K 10 in my hand and I decided to call, the flop comes 3C KH 2C. I decide to teach this fool a lesson and I go all in he calls and flips over 5C 5H. He gets two running clubs to eliminate me and make a one card flush, then he proceeds to apologize for the rest of the night. Bad Beats happen, but the funny thing is he put a bad beat on another player and he just folded the rest of the night and he won the tournament with another bad beat. The worse part about it is, he got upset with the tournament director for racing off his chips he was yelling, "what are you doing with my chips?". Then he didn't understand the blinds and antes in heads up play, this proves you can get lucky and win a tournament.
Well after the main tournament was over they had a turbo tournament, which I won I felt kind of bad because I put a bad beat on a guy he was short stacked and I was chip leader he went all in for $925, I was big blind at $800.00 so I called the $125 he flips over A8 and I flip over my K9 the flop comes 9 K 9 to make my full house and eliminate him. But at the end like most tournaments its a coin flip, I won and regained the non-Banea point lead.
Monday, May 16, 2005
The start of my Poker Blog
I decided to start a poker blog to chronicle my play and hopefully my rise to my goal of reaching the WPT final table someday. Right now I am playing low limit trying to build my bankroll, so that I can increase the amount of payoffs I have when I win. Hopefully I will develop a decent side following of people interested in my site and we will see what happens.
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